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Review
. 2021 Apr 22;12(5):378.
doi: 10.3390/insects12050378.

Development of Sterile Insect Technique for Control of the European Grapevine Moth, Lobesia botrana, in Urban Areas of Chile

Gregory S Simmons  1 , Melissa Cristal Salazar Sepulveda  2 , Edith Alejandra Fuentes Barrios  2 , Marcela Idalsoaga Villegas  2 , Raul Enrique Medina Jimenez  2 , Alvaro Rodrigo Garrido Jerez  2 , Ruth Henderson  1 , Hernán Donoso Riffo  2
Affiliations
Review

Development of Sterile Insect Technique for Control of the European Grapevine Moth, Lobesia botrana, in Urban Areas of Chile

Gregory S Simmons et al. Insects. .

Abstract

The European grapevine moth, a Palearctic pest, was first detected in the Americas in 2008. Its establishment in Chile presented production and export issues for grapes and other fruits, and a national control campaign was launched. Urban areas next to agricultural production areas were recognized as a challenge for effective control. In 2015, a SIT laboratory was established in Arica, Chile to evaluate its potential for urban control. Progress included the development and evaluation of artificial diets, a mass-rearing of 75,000 moths/week, confirmation of 150 Gy as an operational dose for inherited sterility, and releases of sterile moths in a 25 ha urban area next to fruit production areas. Season-long releases demonstrated that high overflooding ratios were achieved early in the season but decreased with a large increase in the wild moth population. Sterile moth quality was consistently high, and moths were observed living in the field up to 10 days and dispersing up to 800 m. Recommendations for further development of the SIT include conducting cage and field studies to evaluate overflooding ratios and mating competitiveness, measuring of infestation densities in release and no-release areas, and conducting trials to evaluate combining SIT with compatible integrated pest management (IPM) tactics such as fruit stripping and use of mating disruption.

Keywords: area-wide control; artificial diets; grape pests; invasive pests; mass-rearing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) One liter plastic oviposition cages with cotton wick for adult feeding. (b) Female moths oviposit directly onto plastic surface. (c) Larval rearing tray infested with EGVM eggs on cut plastic strips.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Cyclone collection trap mounted in a cold room with collection box to hold moths immobilized by the cold. (b) Moth eclosion cabinets fitted with a fiber optic UV light and PVC ductwork vacuum system leading to the cyclone trap. (c) Irradiated EGVM moths marked with DaygloTM fluorescent powder in Petri plate for release.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean (SD) number of sterile male moths caught at different distances after central point releases and the mean cumulative percentage of total recaptures in five sterile moth dispersal experiments October 2018 to February 2019 (n = 48 traps/experiment).
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Sterile EGVM release plot in Requinoa Chile, with red dots show monitoring trap locations (n = 34 traps). (b) Control no-release area to the north of the sterile release plot in Requinoa Chile, with yellow dots show monitoring trap locations (n = 28 traps).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Requinoa release plot: (a) pheromone trap fixed to an ornamental tree; (b) a street along the release grid; (c) hand release of EGVM out the window of release vehicle driving at 2 km/h.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Sterile moth release route on city streets of Requinoa and aerial view of surrounding crop lands.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Mean number of sterile and wild moths per trap per week in release plot and ratio of sterile to wild moths (n = 34 traps). Error bars are standard errors of the mean. ↑ shows weeks without sterile release.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Mean number of sterile and wild moths per trap per week in no-release plot (n = 28 traps). Error bars are standard errors of the mean.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Percentage of sterile moths recaptured on pheromone traps in relation to the percentage of moths that flew in a field laboratory flight ability test (n = 34 traps). No relationship was observed between percentage recapture and the percentage of moths that flew (F 1,27 = 0.39, p = 0.54).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Percentage of sterile moths recaptured on pheromone traps in relation to weekly mean temperatures at dusk and the daily maximum temperatures (n = 34 traps). No relationship was observed between percentage recapture and average weekly temperature at dusk F 1,28 = 0.89, p = 0.35) or between percentage recapture and average daily maximum temperature (F 1,28 = 1.40, p = 0.35).
Figure 11
Figure 11
Mean number of sterile EGVM caught per trap in the no-release control field as measured from the nearest release plot edge over the entire release period of August 2019–May 2020 (n = 28 traps). Error bars are standard errors of the mean.
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