From November 4 to 28, 2024, doctoral student Luka Čotić (DOK-NPOO-2023-10-7422) underwent scientific training in the techniques of laboratory breeding of the olive fruit fly and the basics of laboratory research on the effectiveness of attraction by volatile compounds. The training was conducted at the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis in the USA under the direction of Dr. Zalom. During this training, Luka also learned how to set up and maintain an olive fruit fly colony for laboratory research purposes, as well as the basics of testing olive fruit fly attraction to volatile compounds using the multi-choice and no-choice method. Scientific training program:
Week 1: Instruction on the equipment and operation of the Laboratory for Entomology and Nematology, collecting infected olive fruit from UC Davis olive orchards and the USDA olive orchard at Wolfskill to establish an olive fruit fly colony and prepare the necessary equipment and materials for their rearing (controlled condition chambers, rearing cages, etc.),
Week 2: Collecting pupae and larvae from infected olive fruits, transferring them to chambers with controlled conditions for hatching adult flies and caring for them,
Week 3: Working with adult flies (males and females), transferring them to breeding cages, separating the males from the females and caring for them in order to maintain a colony,
Week 4: Introduction to the basics of the multi-choice and no-choice method for carrying out laboratory tests on the efficacy of volatile compounds in attracting olive flies, data processing and presentation of the results.