WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD News) — Researchers producing sterile flies to combat New World screwworm are developing new production methods that target females.
USDA researcher Alex Arp said a lot of the resources going into sterile fly production are wasted because female flies do not help as much as their male counterparts. To address that, researchers have developed a strain that kills the females as embryos.
“It’s gonna really double the output of the sterile insect facilities without really having any major cost to the infrastructure. On top of that, when we’re sterilizing these screwworm flies for SIT, the female flies need a really high sterilization dose, about twice what a male needs to be sterilized. Right now, all the males we’re producing are getting sterilized at this really high female dose. It’s reducing their health a little bit in the field and reducing their capabilities for mating females. With Noble flies, since there are not any females going through the radiation system, we can give an appropriate dose to the males, and we’ll get a healthier male out into the field that’s gonna perform a lot better for us.”
USDA says it has examined more than 83,000 trapped flies since early June. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said all samples have shown no evidence of the pest.
Rollins said this week there are only two active cases in the U.S.
