STUDY ON THE UTILIZATION, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, AND INSECTICIDAL ACTIVITY OF NUTMEG ESSENTIAL OIL (MYRISTRICA FRAGNANS HOUTT) AGAINST FRUIT FLIES, BACTROCERA SPP. (DIPTERA, TEPHRITIDAE)

This study aims to determine the activity of the essential oil nutmeg (Myristrica fragrans Houtt) against fruit flies Bactrocera spp. The attractant treatments used were 1) pure nutmeg essential oil (NEO), 2) petrogenol (800 g/l methyl eugenol) and 3) sterile water as a control. The variables observed were the type of species, sex, number of fruit flies captured, and activity period of NEO and Petrogenol in the field scale. The chemical composition of NEO was investigated by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectometry (GC-MS). The results of the research indicate the period of activity of NEO and Petrogenol in the field is more than 43 days with an average of fruit fly attracted was 12.22 adults/day and 17.04 adults/day respectively. There are three species of fruit flies attracted namely Bactrocera carambolae, B. dorsalis, and B. umbrosa. Among those species, B. carambolae and B. dorsalis were dominantly attracted. GC-MS analysis shows that the highest chemical composition of NEO is obtained by 4-allyl-1,2-dimethoxybenzene-carboxylate (Methyl eugenol) (8.33%) which has the potential to be developed as a fruit fly attractant.