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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #179971
Title: QUALITY CONTROL OF FRUIT FLIES: BACTROCERA AND CERATITIS RESEARCH IN HAWAII

Author
item McInnis, Donald
item SHELLY, T - APHIS
item STEIN, S - APHIS

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/18/2004
Publication Date: 11/30/2004
Citation: Mcinnis, D.O., Shelly, T., Jang, E.B., Stein, S. Oral conference proceedings presentation at the IAEA/FAO Final Research Coordination Meeting of the CRP on Quality Assurance of Fruit Flies on SIT programs, Tapachula, Mexico in October 18-22, 2004.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In Hawaii, research has continued to improve tephritid fruit fly quality for the SIT in several areas over the past 5 years of the entire IAEA/CRP on fruit fly quality control. Significant improvements of sterile fruit fly quality were made for 2 Bactrocera species, B. dorsalis (oriental fruit fly) and B. cucurbitae (melon fly), plus Ceratitis capitata (medfly). These fly quality improvements were due to the applications of aromatherapy and genetic sexing. Collaborative research on the medfly continued using ginger root oil as the mating stimulant. Studies, under the leadership of Todd Shelly, have focused on the transition from small-scale to large-scale production of insects to be exposed. Results indicated that significant (doubling to several-fold) increases in mating competitiveness were realized in standard field cage mating tests, or in egg sterility tests realized in large field cages and a coffee orchard on the island of Kauai. A series of studies have taken the scale of exposure from small cups holding a few tens of males to entire trailers holding over 10 million males with a continued significant advantage of treated males. The details of this entire story will be discussed by Todd Shelly at the first IAEA Research Co-ordination Meeting of the Co-ordination research Project on Improving Sterile Male Performance in Fruit Fly Programmes to be held the week after the Tapachula, Mex. CRM (Oct. 25-29, 2004). Research on the melon fly and oriental fruit fly continued in the areas of aromatherapy and genetic sexing. For the oriental fruit fly, at the last 2 Research Coordination Meetings, research results documented the significant beneficial effects of both aromatherapy (with methyl eugenol) and all-male fly releases, based on standard field cage studies in Hawaii Suriname, S.A. and Thailand. However, results have, unfortunately, shown no effect on adult mating performance after larval exposure to methyl eugenol in their diet. Melon fly studies continued with the pupal color sexing strain, now over 3 years old. Quality control studies indicated that the strain mass-rears adequately, and is very competitive with wild flies based on field cage studies of mating ability and survival. Open field studies were conducted between 2002-2004 on 3 Hawaiian islands in increasingly larger test areas and with increasing numbers of sterile males released (up to 1,500,000/wk) . Results indicated that the sexing strain significantly impacted the wild population, causing high induced sterility above 75% in both residential and commercial areas vegetable growing areas of Hawaii. Currently, we are switching from mass-rearing the melon fly to the oriental fruit fly sexing strain, and releasing the latter in citrus orchards on Oahu, HI, to assess the field fitness of the strain.