EVALUATION POTENTIAL OF STERILE INSECT TECHNIQUE IN CONTROLLING (ECTOMYELOIS CERATONIAE ZELLER) IN THE GARDEN

Abstract

Iran is the first producer and exporter of pomegranate in the world. The losses of pomegranate in our country because of Ectomyelois ceratoniae Zeller is too much. Ectomyelois ceratoniae Zeller is an important agent of decreasing quality and quantity of pomegranate in our country. According to annual thermal and humidity condition and cultivars the losses are different annually. This pest is very active in all pomegranate areas of Iran now. Due to biology of the pest application of pesticide is not practical and other methods like biological, mechanical, agronomical, etc. cannot be effective alone. Application of sterile insect technique is a method in the world that is used for a few insects with special condition. This research was done for primary evaluation control of Ectomyelois ceratoniae Zeller in the garden in a complete randomized blocks design as follows: pest larval stage are collected from pomegranate orchards and reared in lab conditions (28± 2°C, 60±5 RH and 14 h light) on artificial diet. Eight similar pomegranate trees were chosen and every tree covered with a cage. 3-4 days pupas were separated and irradiated at dose range of 160 Gy1 at the following situations: (irradiated males A— irradiated females A— natural males and natural females) and releasing ratio of 7:7:1:1 (irradiated male A— irradiated female A— natural male A— natural female) compared to a control (natural male A— natural female) under 4 replications. Releasing irradiated and non-irradiated insects continued for four times from June to August according to degree days. At harvesting time in September and comparing irradiated and control replications the results were as follows: the damage of Ectomyelois ceratoniae on pomegranate in irradiated cages compared to the control was 0.025 to 37%.