| Title: | Effects of Irradiation on Biology and Mating Behaviour of Wild Males of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Using a 6 MV Medical Linear Accelerator |
| Author(s): | Roselli G; Anfora G; Suckling DM; Mazzoni V; Vanoni V; Menegotti L; Fellin L; Rossi Stacconi MV; Ioriatti C; Cristofaro M; |
| Address: | "Center Agriculture, Food and Environment (C3A), University of Trento, 38098 San Michele all'Adige, Italy. Technology Transfer Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, 38098 San Michele all'Adige, Italy. Biotechnology and Biological Control Agency (BBCA Onlus), 00123 Rome, Italy. Formerly The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd., Christchurch 8011, New Zealand. Formerly School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland 1072, New Zealand. Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, 38098 San Michele all'Adige, Italy. Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari, 38122 Trento, Italy" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2075-4450 (Print) 2075-4450 (Electronic) 2075-4450 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is a pentatomid bug of Eastern Asian origin that became an economically relevant pest in the Eurasian and American continents. Management of this species is limited to use of chemical insecticides: an inefficient method due to the strong adaptability of the target pest. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is potentially a valid tactic in the search for nontoxic alternatives. In this work, we investigated the suitability of mass-trapped overwintering males, collected during the aggregation phase before the winter diapause, for their release as competitive sterile males in an SIT programme. Differently from previous studies, irradiation was applied with a linear accelerator device that produced high-energy photons. Following a similar scientific protocol with newly emerged irradiated males, the effects of X-ray irradiation on physiological parameters (longevity, fecundity and fertility) were assessed. In addition, behavioural bioassays were carried out in no-choice conditions to evaluate if irradiation interferes with mating processes. The results are very encouraging; the effects of the irradiation at 32 Gy did not differ from the controls in the longevity or fecundity of the exposed overwintering adults. The hatching rate of the eggs laid by the fertile females that had mated with the irradiated males was less than 5%. The results of behavioural bioassays showed that the irradiation did not cause a significant impact on the quality of the sterile males. More research is warranted to evaluate the mating competitiveness of sterile males in semi-field and field conditions" |
| Keywords: | Halyomorpha halys X-ray diapause insect pest integrated pest management pentatomids; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINERoselli, Gerardo Anfora, Gianfranco Suckling, David Maxwell Mazzoni, Valerio Vanoni, Valentina Menegotti, Loris Fellin, Lorenzo Rossi Stacconi, Marco Valerio Ioriatti, Claudio Cristofaro, Massimo eng Coordinate Research Project # D40045./International Atomic Energy Agency/ Switzerland 2023/05/26 Insects. 2023 May 13; 14(5):460. doi: 10.3390/insects14050460" |
