The experiment was carried out from April to May, 2011 at the laboratory of Mennonite Central Committee Bangladesh in Bogra district to know the efficacy of different soil amendments to control cucurbit fruit fly (CFF) Bactrocera cucurbitae. Seven treatments viz. Control (untreated), Dursban 20EC (@ 10 l ha-1), Furadan 3G (@ 10 kg ha-1), Neem oil cake (@ 1500 kg ha-1), Mustard oil cake (@ 1500 kg ha-1), Tricho compost (@ 2500 kg ha-1) and poultry refuse (@ 1500 kg ha-1) were used in the experiment and each treatment was replicated thrice. A similar effectiveness was found with the use of Dursban 20EC (@ 10 l ha-1), Furadan 3G (@ 10 kg ha-1) and poultry refuse (@ 1500 kg ha-1) for controlling of puparium. The experimental findings indicated that the use of poultry refuse (@ 1500 kg ha-1) in soil is a non-chemical way and could be a good practice in destroying the puparia of cucurbit fruit fly effectively for the bitter gourd farmers to manage the menace of fruit fly.

Keywords: Bactrocera cucurbitae, soil amendments, poultry refuse, pupal mortality, bitter gourd

A study on effectiveness of spraying time for judicial use of insecticides in controlling of fruit fly was conducted in farmers’ filed during March to May, 2011 in Bogra district. The insecticide Nitro-505EC was selected as test insecticide and bitter gourd was as test crop for this experiment. The insecticide was sprayed three times as treatments viz. spraying early in the morning (7:00am to 8:00am), spraying at noon (12:00 noon to 1:00pm) and spraying before evening (4:00pm to 5:00pm) and was compared with the untreated control. The lowest infestation (26.80 %) by cucurbit fruit fly was found after spraying of insecticide in the afternoon (4:00pm to 5:00pm) and the maximum fruit infestation was found in the untreated control treatment (60.24%). Significant differences were found in percent of infested fruits immediate after three days, but after seven days there was no significant differences among the treatments.

Keywords: Bactrocera cucurbitae, insecticide spraying time, fruit fly, infestation, bitter gourd

The estimation of profitability and to investigate the factors affecting the yield of bitter gourd production at Narsingdi district in 2013 was designed. The study area was selected purposively and a total of 100 farmers were randomly selected. The stochastic Cobb-Douglas production frontier model was used for estimating the factors that affecting bitter gourd production. The study used both descriptive and functional analysis to achieve the objectives of the study. The study divulged that bitter gourd production was profitable in the study areas. Average yield of bitter gourd was found to be 27.5 ton ha-1 and average gross return was Tk. 5,50,000 ha-1. Total cost of production was found to be Tk. 3,06,810 ha-1. Net return and BCR was found to be Tk. 2.43,190 ha-1 and 1.79, respectively. The functional analyses suggested that human labour, Urea, TSP, cow dung and irrigation had positive and significant effect on the yield of bitter gourd in the study areas. Among different constraints, attacked by insect and diseases, lack of quality seed and high price of input were dominant in the study areas. Necessary steps from the concern authority are essential to solve the problems regarding bitter gourd cultivation and to increase the production as well as the income of the farmers in the study areas.

Keywords: Profitability, Bitter gourd, gross margin, net return, BCR, Cobb-Douglas