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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #226093

Title: Compatibility of codling moths Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from South Africa with codling moths shipped from Canada.

Author
item BLOEM, S - USDA APHIS PPQ
item Carpenter, James
item BLOMEFIELD, T - ARC INFRUITEC-NIETVOORBIJ
item HARRISON, C - OKANAGAN-KOOTENAY,CANADA

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/14/2009
Publication Date: 6/4/2009
Citation: Bloem, S., Carpenter J.E., Blomefield, T.L., Harrison, C. 2010. Compatibility of codling moths Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from South Africa with codling moths shipped from Canada. Journal of Applied Entomology. 134:201-206.

Interpretive Summary: The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been successfully applied against many insect pests including the several moth species. Because a major consideration in the development of new and expanded SIT programs is the investment in mass-rearing facilities, research to optimize these investments is a requisite. The campaign against the codling moth in British Columbia, Canada has served as an example of the successful suppression of a major lepidopteran pest using an area-wide IPM approach, and has stimulated interest in other countries such as South Africa to develop codling moth control programs that include an SIT component. Due to the seasonality of this pest, the facility in Canada is only fully utilized for part of the year. The time and expense of evaluating and implementing SIT against codling moth in South Africa may be substantially reduced if moths produced in Canada were fully compatible with South African codling moth. In addition, because the pome fruit-growing season in both countries is opposite, the program in Canada might benefit by maintaining moth production year-round and selling moths to South Africa for use in SIT. We conducted semi field studies in small cages and release-recapture studies in an unsprayed apple orchard in South Africa to examine the mating compatibility of codling moths from Canada and South Africa. The results from our small cage study suggest that Canadian codling moth males were equally attracted to calling Canadian and South African codling moth females despite the fact that Canadian moths experienced a transport time (from Canada to South Africa) of 48 hrs and were between 1-2 days of age at the time of transport. Our data also suggest that at lower field temperatures Canadian moths were more active than South African moths. Results from the release-capture field trials indicate that Canadian and South African males were equally attracted to Canadian and South African females. These results suggest that codling moths from Canada and South Africa are compatible and indicate that Canadian codling moths can be used for SIT studies in South Africa. As these studies were conducted with codling moths from two very different climatic and time zones, it is probable that populations of codling moth in other pome fruit production areas will also be compatible with Canadian codling moths.

Technical Abstract: The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been successfully applied against codling moth (CM), Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus), in British Columbia since 1992. The mass-rearing facility located in Osoyoos, BC produces between 15-16M moths per week. Due to the seasonality of this pest, the facility in Canada is only fully utilized for part of the year. The time and expense of implementing SIT against CM in South Africa may be substantially reduced if moths produced in Canada were fully compatible with South African CM. In addition, because the pome fruit-growing season in both countries is opposite, the program in Canada might benefit by maintaining moth production year-round and selling moths to South Africa for use in SIT. We conducted semi field studies in small cages and release-recapture studies in an unsprayed apple orchard in October 2003 to examine the mating compatibility of CM from Canada and South Africa. The results from our small cage study suggest that Canadian CM males were equally attracted to calling Canadian and South African CM females despite the fact that Canadian moths had had a transport time (from Canada to South Africa) of 48 hrs and were between 1-2 days of age at the time of transport. Our data also suggest that at lower field temperatures Canadian female and male moths were more active than the South African moths. Results from the release-capture field trials indicate that Canadian and South African males were equally attracted to Canadian and South African females. These results suggest that CM from Canada and South Africa are fully compatible and indicate that Canadian CM can be used for SIT studies in South Africa. As these studies were conducted with CM from two very different climatic and time zones, it is probable that populations of CM in other pome fruit production areas will also be compatible with the Canadian CM.