Author
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Skoda, Steven |
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Submitted to: APHIS-ARS-Mexico US Commission for the Eradication of Screwworm Meeting
Publication Type: Other Publication Acceptance Date: 3/29/2000 Publication Date: 3/29/2000 Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The following interpretive summary refers to the (6th of 6) invited oral presentations given by Dr. Skoda at the APHIS-ARS-Mexico US Commission for the Eradication of Screwworm Meeting, March 2000. Raising healthy colonies of insects for use in research programs is critical to the success of the program. This need is magnified when the research will be applied to mass-rearing and other aspects of an international program for the eradication of screwworms. Although the colony environment is unnatural for the insect, vigilant care and monitoring of critical quality control parameters allows the maintenance of healthy colonies and confidence that research results will accurately translate to the needs of the eradication program. At the Midwest Livestock Insects Research Unit we maintain 14 strains of screwworm: six strains are genetic mutants used in research toward developing a genetic sexing strain while seven are wild type (two are for backup to the mass-rearing facility and five are used in rearing research). For each generation, we maintain information on egg production, egg hatch, total pupal weight, weight of 100 pupae, adult emergence, and sex ratio as important quality control parameters that indicate the health of each strain. We must also, early in the adult life of each generation, check for and remove contaminants from our mutant strains. Several of our strains have been in colony for hundreds of generations but still the quality control measures indicate that they are healthy. Technical Abstract: The following technical abstract refers to the (6th of 6) invited oral presentations given by Dr. Skoda at the APHIS-ARS-Mexico US Commission for the Eradication of Screwworm Meeting, March 2000. Raising healthy colonies of insects for use in research programs is critical to the success of the program. This need is magnified when the research will be applied to mass-rearing and other aspects of an international program for the eradication of screwworms. Although the colony environment is unnatural for the insect, vigilant care and monitoring of critical quality control parameters allows the maintenance of healthy colonies and confidence that research results will accurately translate to the needs of the eradication program. At the Midwest Livestock Insects Research Unit we maintain 14 strains of screwworm: six strains are genetic mutants used in research toward developing a genetic sexing strain while seven are wild type (two are for backup to the mass-rearing facility and five are used in rearing research). For each generation, we maintain information on egg production, egg hatch, total pupal weight, weight of 100 pupae, adult emergence, and sex ratio as important quality control parameters that indicate the health of each strain. We must also, early in the adult life of each generation, check for and remove contaminants from our mutant strains. Several of our strains have been in colony for hundreds of generations but still the quality control measures indicate that they are healthy. |
