Abstract
Over the past 30 years, the sterile insect technique (SIT) has become a regular component of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programs against several major agricultural pests and vectors of severe diseases. The SIT-based programs have been especially successful against dipteran pests. However, the SIT applicability for controlling lepidopteran pests has been challenging, mainly due to their high resistance to the ionizing radiation that is used to induce sterility. Nevertheless, the results of extensive research and currently operating SIT programs show that most problems with the implementation of SIT against pest Lepidoptera have been successfully resolved. Here, we summarize the cytogenetic peculiarities of Lepidoptera that should be considered in the development and application of SIT for a particular pest species. We also discuss the high resistance of Lepidoptera to ionizing radiation, and present the principle of derived technology based on inherited sterility (IS). Furthermore, we present successful SIT/IS applications against five major lepidopteran pests, and summarize the results of research on the quality control of reared and released insects, which is of great importance for their field performance. In the light of new research findings, we also discuss options for the development of genetic sexing strains, which is a challenge to further improve the applicability of SIT/IS against selected lepidopteran pests.
Highlights
The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environment-friendly, autocidal method to manage insect pests on an area-wide basis [1]
We discuss the high resistance of Lepidoptera to ionizing radiation, and present the principle of derived technology based on inherited sterility (IS)
The pest thrives on the cacti of the Opuntia genus, and it was used to great success as a biological control agent, e.g., in Australia, where approximately 25 million hectares of invasive Opuntia were eliminated by the cactus moth [94]
Summary
The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environment-friendly, autocidal method to manage insect pests on an area-wide basis [1]. There are several examples of the successful long-term application of the SIT for the management of key dipteran pests, either of agricultural, veterinary, or medical importance [3,4,5,6] Many considered this pest control tactic less effective for moths (Lepidoptera) in view of their high resistance to ionizing radiation requiring high doses of gamma- or X-rays to induce complete sterility. This prompted numerous investigations in many lepidopteran ranging from feature studies of on Lepidoptera [10,11] This finding prompted numerous investigations in many lepidopteran pests, radiation biology and the optimization of radiation doses through genetic principle of radioresistance, ranging from studies on radiation biology and the optimization of radiation doses through genetic improving mass rearing and the competitiveness of irradiated moths, and increasing the efficacy of pest principle of radioresistance, improving mass rearing and the competitiveness of irradiated moths, control to population modeling of the applicability of SIT versus IS and field release experiments [8,12,13].
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