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Student Poster Display
Plant-Insect Ecosystems
Student
Student Competition
Ethan Stahura
Lab Manager
ACRPC
Mesa, Arizona
Jeanbaptiste Quirino
Lab Manager
ACRPC
Gilbert, Arizona
Jonah Kenneth Brosemann
Biological Science Laboratory Technician
USDA-APHIS
Phoenix, Arizona
Earl Andress
Supervisory PPQ Officer/PRF Director
USDA-APHIS
Phoenix, Arizona
Yves Carriere
Professor
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Michael A. Garvey (he/him/his)
Supervisory Agriculturist (Asst. Lab. Dir.)
USDA-APHIS
Chandler, Arizona
Amyelois transitella, the navel orangeworm (NOW), is a major lepidopteran pest of tree nut crops in the US. NOW causes 100’s of millions of dollars in losses annual to the tree nut industry. This pest’s low damage tolerance is also because it is a vector of Aspergillus spp., which produce aflatoxins known to be human carcinogens. To combat this major pest, a sterile insect technique (SIT) project lead by USDA-APHIS in partnership with other government agencies and industry stakeholders has been in development since 2015. Proper implementation of SIT requires the reliable mass production of high-quality insects. Ideally, this management tool is also cost-effective, but many steps, specifically in the insect rearing process, are labor-intensive which increase operating costs. Here, we report on a more efficient egg collection and processing method for mass-rearing this pest for SIT using a water-soluble oviposition substrate. Our method significantly reduces the time and labor required to rear large quantities of NOW with initial assay results showing that egg hatch rates, adult fecundity, and average adult weight are comparable to current standards. However, adult moth yield is substantially lower compared to the current method. This suggests that the process may result in delayed mortality. Additional investigation(s) is ongoing to improve the efficacy of this method.