Avaliação da técnica do inseto estéril para Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae) e Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

Abstract

Anastrepha fraterculus (Wied., 1830) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) are species of economic importance to fruit production. Currently, these two species are predominantly controlled by insecticides, presenting risks to environmental contamination and human health. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is a technique to supress and eradicates insects, which can be used to control these species. SIT consists in the inundative release of sterilized insects that compete with the wild population, reducing infestation levels in subsequent generations. To assure the success of this technique, it is necessary testing doses that allow achieving the insects sterility, but without compromising their quality. Thus, the objective of this study was to verify the effect of different radiation doses on sterility and quality of A. fraterculus and D. suzukii, as well as the effect of the sterilizing dose on the reproductive behavior of D. suzukii. Therefore, we tested the following doses: 0, 40, 50, 60 and 70 Gy on sterility, longevity under stress and flight ability of A. fraterculus and 0, 75, 150 and 200 Gy on the same parameters of D. suzukii. In addition, we tested the effects of male and female sterility of D. suzukii on its mating and remating behavior. The results obtained in this study showed that the necessary doses to induct sterility on A. fraterculus and D. suzukii are 70 Gy and 200 Gy, respectively, and these doses do not present a deleterious effect on the flight ability and the longevity of the irradiated insects. Yet, male sterility of D. suzukii does not interfere on the likelihood to mate and remate, however, sterile males showed a longer copula. The sterility of females resulted in a lower likelihood to mate, although it did not affected the probability of remating.