Search citation statements
Paper Sections
Citation Types
Publication Types
Relationship
Authors
Journals
One of the main obstacles for a wider use of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) against the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) is the damage commercial fruit suffers due to sterile female stings. To overcome this obstacle, the Joint FAOlIAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture has played a leading role in sponsoring and carrying out research to develop medfly genetic sexing strains that allow male-only SIT releases.Recently, as a result of this continued FAOjlAE.4 effort, genetic sexing strains based on a temperature sensitive lethal (/sl) mutation have been developed at the IAEA Laboratories at Seibersdorf. Unlike previous pupal color sexing strains, these 'second generation' sexing strains allow female killing at an early (embryonal) stage. In addition, they are essentially stable under mass rearing conditions. This represents an important breakthrough because both of these attributes were considered indispensable for genetic sexing strains with any potential to replace conventional strains with both sexes in large scale sterile medfly production facilities. Besides the considerable savings in the costs of release and field monitoring, genetic sexing strains in field tests have shown severalfold increases in the effectiveness of the SIT as compared with the standard strains involving males and females. When releasing both males and females, sterile males are apparently not used effectively, because they use their limited sperm mostly to mate with sterile females and because they do not disperse widely in the presence of these females. When males only are released, however, they disperse much further in search of wild females and compete more intensely with wild males for wild females.As a result of the availability of usable male-only strains, and the demonstration of their increased effectiveness, the applicability of the SIT against medfly has increased in two different ways. Highly developed commercial fruit growing regions, that previously had excluded application of SIT because of the fruit damage due to sterile female stings, are now reconsidering such free area/exclusion programs. More-importantly, sterile male releases can now also be used for routine control purposes, rather than only for eradication programs, partially or fully replacing chemical bait-sprays during the fruiting seasons.
One of the main obstacles for a wider use of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) against the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) is the damage commercial fruit suffers due to sterile female stings. To overcome this obstacle, the Joint FAOlIAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture has played a leading role in sponsoring and carrying out research to develop medfly genetic sexing strains that allow male-only SIT releases.Recently, as a result of this continued FAOjlAE.4 effort, genetic sexing strains based on a temperature sensitive lethal (/sl) mutation have been developed at the IAEA Laboratories at Seibersdorf. Unlike previous pupal color sexing strains, these 'second generation' sexing strains allow female killing at an early (embryonal) stage. In addition, they are essentially stable under mass rearing conditions. This represents an important breakthrough because both of these attributes were considered indispensable for genetic sexing strains with any potential to replace conventional strains with both sexes in large scale sterile medfly production facilities. Besides the considerable savings in the costs of release and field monitoring, genetic sexing strains in field tests have shown severalfold increases in the effectiveness of the SIT as compared with the standard strains involving males and females. When releasing both males and females, sterile males are apparently not used effectively, because they use their limited sperm mostly to mate with sterile females and because they do not disperse widely in the presence of these females. When males only are released, however, they disperse much further in search of wild females and compete more intensely with wild males for wild females.As a result of the availability of usable male-only strains, and the demonstration of their increased effectiveness, the applicability of the SIT against medfly has increased in two different ways. Highly developed commercial fruit growing regions, that previously had excluded application of SIT because of the fruit damage due to sterile female stings, are now reconsidering such free area/exclusion programs. More-importantly, sterile male releases can now also be used for routine control purposes, rather than only for eradication programs, partially or fully replacing chemical bait-sprays during the fruiting seasons.
The sterile insect technique (SIT) is used to control wild Mediterranean fruit fly introductions in California and Florida in the U.S. In the past, bait sprays containing malathion proved invaluable in treating new outbreaks or large populations before the use of SIT. Recently, a spinosad protein bait spray, GF-120, has been developed as a possible alternative to malathion, the standard insecticide in protein bait sprays. In this study, protein-deficient and protein-fed Vienna-7 (sterile, mass-reared, "male-only" strain) flies and wild males and females were evaluated to determine the effectiveness of the GF-120 protein bait containing spinosad with respect to bait attraction, feeding, and toxicology. There were no effects of diet or fly type on feeding duration in small laboratory cages. Wild flies, however, registered more feeding events than Vienna-7 males. Flies that fed longer on fresh bait died faster. Protein-deficient flies were more active and found the bait more often than protein-fed flies. Data suggest that adding protein to the diet of SIT flies may decrease their response to baits, therefore, reduce mortality, and thus, allow the concurrent use of SIT and bait sprays in a management or eradication program.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.