Chilling, irradiation and transport of male Glossina palpalis gambiensis pupae: Effect on the emergence, flight ability and survival

PLoS One. 2019 May 14;14(5):e0216802. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216802. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Background: The sterile insect technique (SIT) requires mass-rearing of the target species, irradiation to induce sexual sterility and transportation from the mass-rearing facility to the target site. Those treatments require several steps that may affect the biological quality of sterile males. This study has been carried out to evaluate the relative impact of chilling, irradiation and transport on emergence rate, flight ability and survival of sterile male Glossina palpalis gambiensis.

Results: Chilling, irradiation and transport all affected the quality control parameters studied. The emergence rate was significantly reduced by long chilling periods and transport, i.e. from 92% at the source insectary in Burkina Faso to 78% upon arrival in Senegal. Flight ability was affected by all three parameters with 31% operational flies lost between the production facility and the destination site. Only survival under stress was not affected by any of the treatments.

Conclusion: The chilling period and transport were the main factors that impacted significantly the quality of sterile male pupae. Therefore, in the operational programme, the delivery of sterile male pupae was divided over two shipments per week to reduce the chilling time and improve the quality of the sterile males. Quality of the male pupae may further be improved by reducing the transport time and vibrations during transport.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Burkina Faso
  • Cold Temperature
  • Infertility, Male / etiology
  • Infertility, Male / veterinary
  • Male
  • Pest Control, Biological / methods*
  • Pupa / physiology
  • Pupa / radiation effects
  • Reproduction
  • Senegal
  • Transportation
  • Tsetse Flies / physiology*
  • Tsetse Flies / radiation effects

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the US State Department through the Peaceful Uses Initiative, the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and the Department of Technical Cooperation of IAEA. Reduction of fecundity and trypanosomia control of tsetse flies by the application of sterile insect techniques and molecular methods. Also, it was partially supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-15-0604 entitled “Reduction of fecundity and trypanosomia control of tsetse flies by the application of sterile insect techniques and molecular methods”. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.