Introduction. Timing of management practices requires an understanding of pest population dynamics in given cropping systems. Our study was designed to establish the population trends of B. invadens in mango orchards and to determine if population fluctuations were reflected in fruit infestation levels during changes in mango phenology. Materials and methods. Bactrocera invadens flies were trapped weekly from February 2011 to November 2012, using methyl eugenol and DDVP (dichlorvos) insecticidal strips. Trapping was done in three mango orchards in the Luweero district of Uganda’s Lake Victoria Crescent. Mango fruit samples were incubated for the retrieval of puparia to calculate positivity (proportion of fruits infested) and fruit infestation indices (number of puparia per kg of fruit) for each stage of fruit maturity. Results. Mean trap catches of adult B. invadens varied significantly over the months (range : ~11 flies per trap per day (FTD) to over 590 FTD; P £ 0.0001). During each year, infestations peaked during June-July and January-February. Trap catches were higher in the major fruiting season compared with the minor fruiting season and were the highest when mango was at the physiological maturity and ripe stages. Fruit infestation and positivity were highest for fruit at the physiological maturity and ripe stages and lowest at the fruit set stage. Discussion. Our findings show that B. invadens is present year-round and all stages of mango fruit development are susceptible to attack. Thus, control measures should be implemented throughout the year and preferably started at fruit set to lessen fruit fly population build-up and damage to fruits.

Introduction. African fruit production, as well as regional andinternational fruit trade, have experienced heavy economic losses over the past decade dueto the damage caused by fruit flies, especially B. invadens Drew Tsuruta& White (Tephritidae: Diptera). Bactrocerainvadensattacks fruits belonging to numerous botanical families, several of which are of greateconomic importance. The females of these flies generally lay their eggs in mature fruits,but some can lay in green-immature fruits. Materials and methods. Theinfluence of the species, variety and phenology of fruits on the fruit attractiveness toB. invadens and the elicitation of B. invadensegg-laying behaviour were studied in the laboratory. Fruits harvested regularly during theyears 2008 and 2009 from orchards in the Niayes area (Senegal) were exposed to gravidfemales in cages set for the different factors tested. The exposed fruits were thenincubated and the pupae emerging from them were counted. Results anddiscussion. Bactrocera invadens females laid eggs in ripefruits. Within the same fruit species, the variety plays an important role in egg-layingpreference. Hence, among the mango varieties tested, the Pêche variety hosted the highestnumber of pupae per fruit, while the Palmer variety hosted the lowest number. Comparisonamong different fruit species showed that mature papaya was more infested than maturemango or citrus. Furthermore, flies were unable to develop on lime.Conclusion. Our study showed that B. invadens can infestgreen and ripe host fruits, and even immature abscised fruits. Consequently, management ofthis pest must include preventive measures in the development and implementation of anintegrated management system.

Black persimmon in the literature.The persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) is a deciduousfruit tree originating in China. One type consisting of a groupof similar cultivars is the black persimmon, which is a preciousgermplasm resource of China. Black persimmon is mainly distributedin the south of the Taihang Mountains in northern China. Black persimmonis astringent, though this astringency can now be removed easilyvia normal maturity of the fruit. The skin of the fruit is blackand the flesh has abundant nutritional value, with vitamin C andcarotene. Information given by a black persimmon orchard.A trial on black persimmon was carried out from 2003 to 2009 inZhengzhou, Henan province, China. Plant growth, yields and phenologicalcharacteristics were studied. The fruit has a thick skin which assistsin storage and transportation; it has excellent flavor and quality,making the fruit highly valued by producers, marketers and consumers. Key cultivation techniques. Practices to achieve highquality are reviewed such as the proper plant environment, tree plantingand pruning, the soil management, the wintering and protection ofyoung trees, and pest control.

Introduction. Litchi has gained considerable economic importance in Mauritius as it is highly prized on the local and export markets for its size, colour and flavour, although no characterisation work has been performed so far. Materials and methods. In order to optimise litchi germplasm management in Mauritius, we evaluated 34 litchi accessions from three different agroclimatic regions. Phenotypic and morphological characters, and microsatellite markers were studied. Results and discussion. Phenological observations conducted over four consecutive fruiting cycles (2003/2004 to 2006/2007) showed that accessions could be grouped into early- and late-flowering cultivars, which initiated floral panicles from June to July and July to August, respectively. The harvesting season of litchi lasted from mid-November to mid-January with early-maturing cultivars being ready for harvest in the first month of the season. Phenological characters and fruit characterisation showed that the newly-introduced cultivar ‘Yook Ho Pow’ had a high commercial potential. Molecular studies using twelve pairs of SSR primers showed that, despite phenotypic variations among ‘Tai So’ genotypes in different locations (such as percentage of chicken-tongued seeds and leaflet size), the SSR profiles of leaf samples from all the studied ‘Tai So’ accessions were identical, suggesting that phenotypic differences could probably be attributed to environmental conditions rather than to genetic variations. Molecular characterisation revealed different cases of synonymies and homonymies in the genotypes studied.