NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN MALE FRUIT FLY Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae) AT TIME OF EMERGENCY

CASTRO, F.; MEDINA PEREYRA, P.; JUÁREZ, M. L.; RUIZ, M. J.; GOANE, L.; ARCE, O.; VERA, M.T.

Jornada; XXXI ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING OF TUCUMAN BIOLOGY ASSOCIATION; 2014

Asociación de Biología de Tucumán

Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) is an important plague that is distributed among the southern U.S. and Argentina. One way to reduce the use of insecticides is the implementation of the sterile insect technique (which is based on the release of sterile males in order to mate with wild females and transfer sterile sperm). This requires a massive rearing where the nutrients provided in the diet of larvae are optimized. The aim was to compare the nutritional status of A. fraterculus males from a rearing laboratory (L) and from guavas collected in the wild (wild, W). For the study, individuals at -20 °C on the emergency day without any diet were retained. Adults were dried at 50 °C for 5 h to obtain the dry weight. Glycogen level, sugar and lipid by Van Handel´s method were measured, and total protein by the Bradford method. From 10 individuals each source were analyzed and means were compared by t test for independent samples. L males were heavier than W males. Protein concentration, sugars and glycogen were the same for both sources, whereas lipids were significantly higher in L males. The data reveal that when larvae ingest artificial laboratory diet (rich in lipid) obtained heavier individuals and with greater lipid load than those fed guava during the larval stage. The lower accumulation of lipid in S males is attributable to the chance of getting this nutrient in nature during the larval stage. Data found for this species are novel to investigate the effect of this reserve lipid laboratory individuals on the reproductive success of sterile male way of contributing to the management of this plague.