When partially sterile males mate with wild females, the radiation-induced deleterious effects are inherited by the F1 generation.
Compared with the high radiation required to achieve full sterility in Lepidoptera, the lower dose of radiation used to induce F1 sterility increases the quality and competitiveness of the released insects as measured by improved dispersal after release, increased mating ability, and superior sperm competition.
Following fusion, nuclear divisions begin, and a break in a chromosome can have drastic effects on the viability of the embryo as development proceeds.
[24] It was suggested that possible molecular mechanisms responsible for the high radioresistance in Lepidoptera might include an inducible cell recovery system and a DNA repair probes.
[29] The plates also reduce the risk of lethality caused by the formation of dicentric chromosomes, acentric fragments, and other unstable aberrations.
Since the early 1990s, the codling moth has been successfully suppressed in apple and pear production areas in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada, and countries such as Argentina, Brazil and South Africa have plans or programmes against this pest.
[32] Control of most moth pests is hampered by the increased resistance to the most widely used broad spectrum insecticides; hence the potential for expanded implementation of inherited sterility as part of an area-wide integrated approach is considerable.