Cold-Storage Quarantine Treatment for Carambolas Infested with the Caribbean Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

Cold storage at either 1.1° or 5°C was tested as a quarantine treatment method for mature larvae of the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspense (Loew), in carambolas, Averrhoa carambola (L.). ‘Arkin’ carambolas were infested in an outdoor fly cage and held at either 1.1°C or 5°C. At 1.1°C, probit 9 mortality was estimated to occur at 13.6 d and at 5°C at 21.1 d. Carambolas cooled rapidly under cold storage (from 24°C to 5°C in approximately 6 h) and tolerated 15 d at 1.1°C with little loss of marketability.