**United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service**  **Plant Protection and Quarantine** 

## Addition **of a**  **C old**  **T reatment**  **S chedule**  **T107 -**  **l to**  **the T**  **reatment M**  **anual for**  **P each**  **F ruit**  **F ly**  **Bactrocera zonata**  **(Saunders) in**  **O ranges**  **and T**  **angerines Treatment Evaluation Document**  **Date** : Febuary

07 , 2012 **Treatments, Pests, Commodities and Countries New Treatment/**  **Revision/Deletion Treatment** 

**Type Target Pests**  **Commodity Applicable**  **Country(ies)**

**of origin** New Treatment Cold Treatment Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) Citrus

sinensis L. (Osbeck) and Citrus reticulata All

**Objective :**  This document provide s supporting information and justification for the addition of a new treatment schedule (proposed to be T107
- l) to the PPQ Treatment M anual. The new treatment is needed to mitigate risks from the introduction of pe ach fruit fly (PFF), Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) in oranges ( Citrus sinensis ) and tangerines ( Citrus reticulata ). This addition specificall y will enable Egy pt to resume imp ortations of oranges and tangerines into the United States , which were suspended following detection of pe ach fruit fly in 2002 (USDA, 2002). **Overview:** Oranges and tangerines from Egy pt have been enterable to the United States since 1969 subject to cold treatment T107
- a for Mediterranean fruit fly , Ceratitis capitata (USDA, 1969). Importation of oranges from Egypt was suspended in July 2002 because of the establishment of PFF in Egy pt (USDA, 2002). Egy

pt requested that APHI S reconsider the use of cold treatment T107
- a to allow the importation of oranges and tangerines based on the treatment efficacy data that they had developed for Bactrocera zonata in C itrus (MALR, 2008). In a study conducted in 2006, researchers treated citrus fruit infested with 31,90 0 third instar Bactrocera zonata larvae for 13 day s at 1.7°C with2

a 2 day pre - cooling period and found no survivors (PPRI , 2006 ; Mohamed and El Wakkad, 2009 ). This was followed by two subsequent studies in 2011 at Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)/International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Agriculture and Biotechnology L aboratory

in Seibersdorf, Austria , where r esearch was jointly conducted by

USDA
- APHIS, USDA
- ARS, Egy pt Plant Protection and Research Institute and IAEA personnel (Hallman et al ., 2011 )
. After a preliminary study , the cold treatment temperature of 1.67 ° C was maintained and batches of third instar larvae were exposed for different lengths of time in oranges. The oranges were dissected after treatment and the larvae scored as dead or alive based on their movement . I f s urvivors were found the time would be increased and the treatment repeated. No survivors were recovered from over 36,000 Bactrocera zonata larvae in oranges held at 1.67 ° C for 18 days ( Hallman et al
. , 2012). **Evaluation:** Currently, there is no APHIS approved treatment for Bactrocera zonata
. APHI S approved treatment T107
- a is a cold treatment that is require d as a condition of entry for oranges and other fruit s originating from countries infested with Ceratitis capitata ( Medfly) or C. rosa (Natal fruit fl y). T107
- a requires that the fruit be pre
chilled and then kept at 1.11 ° C for 14 days , at 1.67 ° C for 16 days , or at 2.22 ° C for 18 days. Until PFF was detected in Egy pt in 2002, T107
- a was the treatment that allow ed impo rtation of Citrus from Egy pt. At the request of Egy

pt , CPHST in collaboration with other government agencies including USDA ARS, Egy pt Plant Protection and Research Institute and IAEA personnel , conducted studies in 2011 to determine if the data support ed the efficacy of T107
- a against the PFF as well
. The confirmatory test with over 36,000 third instar larvae distributed among fruit and kept at 1.67 ° C resulted in no survivors when the infested fruit were exposed for 1 8 days. Compared to this, in another large
- scale test, when fruit infested with 6000 third instar larvae were exposed for 16 days at 1.67 ° C, one survivor was found. No tests were performed at this temprature in which infested fruit were exposed for 17 day s. Th erefore, while the results strongly supported the requirement of 18 days exposure at 1.67 ° C, results with the 16 days at 1.67 ° C to confirm the efficacy of T107
- a were not successful for the PFF. Consequently , b ased on these results, CPHST has recommended addition of a new treatment sc hedule, proposed as T107
- l, to the PPQ treatment for the PFF. **Decision :**  Recommend the addition of a new cold treatment T107
- l to treat o ranges and t angerines for pe a ch fruit fly , Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) , to the PPQ treatment manual , which would require the expos ure of pre - cooled Citrus fruit at 1.67 °C (3 5 °F) for 18 days . In addition to Bactrocera zonata, Ceratitis capitata (Medfl y) is another pest of concern in oranges originating from Egy pt. But s ince the proposed T107
- l requires refrigeration a day or two longer than what is required for Ceratitis capitata or C. rosa (16 days) or for Anastrepha species other than A. ludens (17 days) at 1.67 °C , therefore the new treatment is also considered adequate to mitigate risks from Ceratitis capitata , C. rosa or Anastrepha species other than A. ludens
.3

**Author :**  Inder P.S. Gadh, Ph.D. Senior Risk Manager
- Treatments USDA APHI S PPQ Regulations, Permits and Manuals **References Cited :**  Hallman , G.J. , S
. W. Myers, M
. F. El
- Wakkad, M
. D
. Tadrous, and A
. J. Jess up . 2011. C omparison of Cold Tolerance of Bactrocera zonata and Bactrocera invadens with Ceratitis capitata in Navel Orange: Progress Report and Proposal for Future Comparisons of Bactrocera zonata, with Ceratitis capitata and Anastrepha ludens
. 14 pp. Hallman , G.J. , S
. W. Myers, M
. F. and G. Taret. 2012. Development of a cold storage treatment for peach fruit fly , Bactrocera zonata (Diptera: Tephritidae). 9 pp. MALR. 2008. Ministry

of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR). Letter to Dr. Linda Logan , USAID APHI S Attaché, on peach fruit fly technical exchange dated March 26, 2008. Mohamed, S.M.A and M.F. El
- Wakkad. 2009. Cold storage as a disinfestation treatment against peach fruit fl y, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders), (Diptera: Tephritidae) on Valenc ia orange. Egy

ptian J. Applied Sci. 24: 290
- 301. PPRI . 2006. Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI). Cold storage of oranges as a disinfestations treatment against the peach fruit fl y, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Egy pt. 9 Aug. 2006. 17 pp. USDA. 1969. D ecision sheet on entry status of oranges from Egy pt. 1 page. USDA. 2002. Email from APHI S to Egy pt NPPO informing Egy

pt of suspension of market access for oranges.