Cydia pomonella (L.) Field Performance Of Gamma Irradiated And Reared Codling Moth Males

• Fater Mohamad and Mohamad Mansour .
  Atomic Energy Commission, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria; E-mail: atomic@aec.org.sy

Abstract

Marked codling moth males, reared during immature stage on a local artificial diet, were released in a square plot (20 x 20 m) of two separate orchards. One of the orchards received sterile males exposed to 350 Gry (treatment), while the other received non-sterile (normal) males and served as the control treatment. To monitor the performance of sterile and normal males, pheromone traps were hung at certain distances (one trap/50 m) of the release site in each orchard, covering all four directions for 300 m. Traps were checked daily for up to ten days after release. Results showed that number of normal males was significantly less than sterile males at the first 50 m from the dispersion point (61.5% for normal, 76.3% for treatment), normal males, however were captured more frequently at larger distance. For instance, the percentage for normal and sterile males were 17.2, 12.4% at 100 m, 10.4, 3.8 % at 150 m and 7.2 , 2.1% at 200 m, respectively. A small percentage of normal males (2.8%) reached 250 m, whereas sterile males did not. These results indicate that sterile codling moth males exposed to a dose 350 Gy don’t have the same dispersion ability as control ones. The results also showed that the number of sterile males that responded to sex pheromone were less than the normal males in the first and second day after release, However they become more frequent on the third and fourth day, decreased on the fifth and stopped completely on day six..