Sexual competitiveness of fertile and sterile, wild and mass-reared males of Anastrepha obliqua

Disponible para usuarios de ECOSUR con su clave de acceso

Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae), commonly known as theWest Indies fruit fly, is a pest species ofmango, plum (both Anacardiaceae), and other commercial crops in various countries in the Neotropics, including Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean islands. Currently, the sterile insect technique (SIT) is used to control this pest. Here, the sexual competitiveness ofmass-reared sterile A. obliquamales was evaluated against wildmales in field cages. In the first experiment, fertile mass-reared males had similar sexual performance as fertile wild males reared on mango and tropical plum. In the second experiment, sterilemass-reared males had better sexual performance than sterile wild males recovered from mango and tropical plum. In the third experiment, fertile wild males recovered from mango had better sexual performance than sterile mass-reared males. The relative sterility index (RSI) was 0.32, indicating low acceptance of sterile males by wild females. The induced sterility index estimated by Fried's test produced a coefficient of 0.4, indicating that irradiation affected the sexual performance of the mass-reared males, which had reduced sexual performance compared to wild males. We discuss our results in the context ofmass-rearing and sterilization as part of the SIT programs used to control A. obliqua. eng