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How do you make insects sterile?
The sterile insect technique, or SIT for short, is among the most environment-friendly insect pest control methods ever developed. Irradiation, such as with gamma rays and X-rays, is used to sterilize mass-reared insects so that, while they remain sexually competitive, they cannot produce offspring.
How does the sterile insect technique work?
The SIT involves mass breeding huge quantities of target insects in a “factory” and sterilizing the males by exposing them to low doses of radiation. These sterile male flies are then released by air over infested areas, where they mate with wild females.
What is the sterile insect release method?
The sterile insect release method (SIRM) of pest population suppression was first conceived by E. F. Knipling (1955). The method consists of releasing large numbers of sterilized insects into the environment to reduce the probability that members of a natural population of the same species will successfully reproduce.
What is the sterile insect technique for managing pests?
Simply put, SIT is birth control for insects. It is used primarily to control or eradicate insect pests, usually crop pests or human and animal pests. The target insect is reared in great numbers, and the males sterilized, usually using gamma radiation.
Who created sterile insect technique?
Dr Edward F. Knipling
Development of the sterile insect technique. The idea that populations of economically important insect species might be controlled, managed or eradicated through genetic manipulation was conceived in the late 1930s by an American entomologist, Dr Edward F. Knipling.
What is the process of sterilization?
Sterilization describes a process that destroys or eliminates all forms of microbial life and is carried out in health-care facilities by physical or chemical methods. Disinfection describes a process that eliminates many or all pathogenic microorganisms, except bacterial spores, on inanimate objects (Tables 1 and 2).
Who created the sterile insect technique?
How is nuclear energy used to sterilize insects?
While no strategy is 100 per cent effective, using nuclear energy to sterilize insects is an environmentally friendly method of controlling these pests. Gamma radiation from Cobalt-60 will sterilize the insects before they are released to mate normal, unsterilized pepper weevils in greenhouses.
How do they sterilize mosquitoes?
How scientists irradiate mosquitoes. Large numbers of mosquitoes are raised in a lab. Male mosquito pupae are separated from female pupae. Males are irradiated, using ionizing radiation, to make them sterile.
How sterile is sterile?
Sterile: A product that is completely free of microscopic organisms. While sterile means the complete absence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi along with spores, it doesn’t distinguish between specific pathogens. A sterilization technique aims to rid an environment of all living microorganisms.
How does nuclear pest control work?
The method uses radiation to sterilize male flies, which are mass-produced in rearing facilities. Large numbers of sterile males are released into a target area, where they mate with wild females. No offspring are produced, and the wild fly population declines over time.