Florida Entomologist (2016) 99, 95-104

Giancarlo López-Martínez, James E. Carpenter, Stephen D. Hight and Daniel A. Hahn (2016)
Anoxia-conditioning hormesis alters the relationship between irradiation doses for survival and sterility in the cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)
Florida Entomologist 99 (sp1), 95-104
Abstract: One of the most important components of a program that has a sterile insect technique (SIT) component is an appropriate irradiation dose. Knowing the organismal dose-response enables the selection of a dose that induces the highest level of sterility while preserving the sexual competitiveness and other desired qualities of the sterile insect. Finding this balance in Lepidoptera is crucial because of the use of inherited (F1) sterility, where the irradiated parent must be competitive enough to mate while its offspring must be sterile. Manipulations of atmospheric oxygen content have been shown to be an effective way of lowering post-irradiation somatic damage while preserving sterility and improving sterile insect performance, particularly in fruit flies. In this study we tested the irradiation dose response of adults of the cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), and the effects of those doses on sterility, longevity, and F₁ performance, and whether a nitrogen conditioning-treatment (anoxia) prior to and during irradiation affected these metrics. We found that male and female fecundities were not impacted by dose or atmospheric treatment, but females were sterilized at lower doses than males. Eggs of irradiated parents took longer to hatch than those of unirradiated controls, and offspring of moths irradiated in anoxia lived longer in the absence of food and water. Anoxia conditioning rescued female fertility at intermediate doses but had no similar rescue effect on male fertility, which was always greater than female fertility at a given dose. Males generally lived longer than females and anoxia had a strong effect in lowering the male mortality rate and extending lifespan at a given dose. We show evidence that anoxia-conditioning prior to and during irradiation as part of a lepidopteran program with an SIT component could improve parental and larval performance and longevity.
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Database assignments for author(s): Giancarlo López-Martínez, Stephen D. Hight, James E. Carpenter

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Cactoblastis cactorum		U.S.A. (SE)