Fitness and Reproductive Potential of Irradiated Mass-Reared Mediterranean Fruit Fly Males<i>Ceratitis capitata</i>(Diptera: Tephritidae): Lowering Radiation Doses

Abstract

Sterile insect technique programs continue to use high radiation doses to sterilize Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), without always considering the relationship between sterility and competitiveness. The aims of the present work were to verify, under laboratory conditions, the assumptions made by Parker and Mehta (2007) regarding the relationships between the level of residual fertility, competitiveness and sperm transfer ratio of mass-reared C. capitata males, and radiation dose. The males were irradiated in the pupal stage at doses ranging from 50 to 145 Gy. Our results show that radiation dose has a linear relationship with both competitiveness and fertility after suitable transformation. We could show that there is a clear optimum radiation dose at a dose dependent on the over-flooding ratio achieved.