Mass-rearing conditions do not affect responsiveness to sex pheromone and flight activity in sweetpotato weevils

Abstract

For ensuring the effectiveness of sterile insect technique (SIT) programmes, maintaining the reproductive competitiveness and dispersal ability of mass-reared sterile males is essential. Inadvertent selection is an important genetic process that frequently occurs during mass rearing to produce sterile males. We investigated the effect of mass-rearing conditions on the responsiveness to sex pheromones and spontaneous flight activity of males of the sweetpotato weevil Cylas formicarius (Coleoptera: Brentidae). There were no significant differences in the responsiveness to sex pheromones and spontaneous flight activity between wild and mass-reared strains. These results indicate that mass-reared strains of C. formicarius might not cause serious problems for implementing SIT programmes.