Assessment of irradiation doses for sterility of vector mosquito and subsequent mating compatibility with wild females

Abstract

The present studies were designed to develop long term sustainable strategies for the control of dengue vector in Pakistan. Mosquitoes were separated into males and females based on sexual dimorphism at the pupal stage. Ten transparent plastic bottle having 100 male pupae each were exposed to different radiation doses i.e. 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 Gy by Cobalt 60 irradiation source. For Culex spp highest emergence of 90.50% was achieved with dose of 60 Gy and highest deformity of 25.25% was noted with 100 Gy. Aedes spp showed highest emergence (91.25%) and deformity (29.75%) with 60 Gy and 100 Gy, respectively. The mating frequency was acceptable at optimum doses of 40-60 Gy radiation. The radiation dose of 100 Gy yielded lowest adult emergence and highest deformity in the mosquito’s species. The dose of 40-60 Gy was determined as the optimum dose for initiation male sterility requiredrnfor SIT program.