Development of genetic sexing strain of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)

Abstract

A genetic sexing strain (GSS) of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) has been developed in order to release only sterile males to increase the efficiency of fruit fly control by using sterile insect technique. To compare the quality of GSS with the genetic marker strain from a mass-reared colony, it was found that eclosion, flight ability and fertility of GSS equal to 69.57, 53.14 and 47.48 % respectively, which were significantly lower than those of the genetic-marker strain. The adult eclosion, flight ability and fertility of the genetic-marker strain equal to 93.66, 87.00 and 60.48 % respectively. To study the effects of irradiation, the 2-days-before-emergence pupae of GSS were irradiated at doses of 70 and 90 Gy. It was found that sterility and competitiveness index of GSS irradiated at 70 and 90 Gy were 96.15, 97.12 % and 0.51, 0.39 respectively.