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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #236565
Title: Improvement of the sterile insect technique for codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus)(Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) to facilitate expansion of field application

Author
item VREYSEN, MARC - FAO/IAEA
item Carpenter, James
item MAREC, FRANTISEK - UNIV SOUTH BOHEMIA

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/26/2009
Publication Date: 2/1/2010
Citation: Vreysen, M., Carpenter, J.E., Marec, F. 2010. Improvement of the sterile insect technique for codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) to facilitate expansion of field application. Journal of Applied Entomology. 139:165-181.

Interpretive Summary: The sterile insect technique (SIT) and its derivative the inherited sterility (IS) offer great potential as a cost-effective addition to available control tactics for integration in area-wide management approaches for moth pests. The codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a key pest of most pome fruit (apple, pear and quince) and walnut orchards in the temperate regions of the world. Efforts to control the codling moth have in the past mostly relied on the use of broad spectrum insecticide sprays, which has resulted in the development of insecticide resistance in codling moth, and the disruption of the control of secondary pests. In addition, the frequent reliance and indiscriminative use of these insecticides has been a constant threat to the environment and to human health. Consequently, there have been increased demands from the growers for the development of codling moth control tactics such as SIT and IS that are not only effective but also friendly to the environment. In support of the further development of the SIT/IS for codling moth, the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture implemented a 5-year Coordinated Research Project (CRP) entitled “improvement of codling moth SIT to facilitate expansion of field application”. The USDA Agricultural Research Service and other leading research organizations throughout the world participated in the development and implementation of this CRP. The CRP had the objective to reduce insecticide use especially in the rural-urban interface and to facilitate international trade in agricultural commodities by further developing the SIT. Research focussed on sterile codling moth quality and management (e.g. mobility and life history traits in relation to rearing strategy, dispersal, flight ability, radiosensitivity, mating compatibility) and the better understanding of the basic genetics of codling moth that could assist with the development of genetic sexing strains (e.g. cytogenetics, the development of dominant conditional lethal mutations as a genetic sexing strategy, molecular characterisation of the sex chromosomes, sex identification in embryos, cytogenetic markers). This paper presents an overview of the results of the CRP, many which are presented in this special issue.

Technical Abstract: The codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a key pest of most pome fruit (apple, pear and quince) and walnut orchards in the temperate regions of the world. Efforts to control the codling moth have in the past mostly relied on the use of broad spectrum insecticide sprays, which has resulted in the development of insecticide resistance in codling moth, and the disruption of the control of secondary pests. In addition, the frequent reliance and indiscriminative use of these insecticides has been a constant threat to the environment and to human health. Consequently, there have been increased demands from the growers for the development of codling moth control tactics that are not only effective but also friendly to the environment. In that respect, the sterile insect technique (SIT) and its derivative the inherited sterility (IS) offer great potential as a cost-effective addition to available control tactics for integration in area-wide integrated pest management approaches. In support of the further development of the SIT/IS for codling moth, the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture implemented a 5-year Coordinated Research Project (CRP) entitled “improvement of codling moth SIT to facilitate expansion of field application”. The CRP had the objective to reduce insecticide use especially in the rural-urban interface and to facilitate international trade in agricultural commodities by further developing the SIT. Research focussed on sterile codling moth quality and management (e.g. mobility and life history traits in relation to rearing strategy, dispersal, flight ability, radiosensitivity, mating compatibility) and the better understanding of the basic genetics of codling moth that could assist with the development of genetic sexing strains (e.g. cytogenetics, the development of dominant conditional lethal mutations as a genetic sexing strategy, molecular characterisation of the sex chromosomes, sex identification in embryos, cytogenetic markers). The results of the CRP are presented in this special issue.