Boll Weevil: Effects of Difluhenzuron on Sperm Transfer, Mortality, and Sterility12

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Abstract
Adults of Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman were held for 5 days after emergence on diet containing several levels of diflubenzuron (50–500 ppm) diet and then exposed to 10 krad of gamma irradiation from a 137Cs source in a nitrogen atmosphere on the 6th day. This procedure sterilized both males and females. The lower levels of diflubenzuron (50–100 ppm) did not affect the transfer of sperm by treated males to virgin females whereas levels of 200–500 ppm significantly (P > 0.05) reduced sperm transfer. The feeding of diflubenzuron in the adult diet did not contribute to adult mortality but did significantly lower egg hatch and larval development (P > 0.01). Diflubenzuron in the diet plus irradiation was used for sterilizing the boll weevils for the Boll Weevil Eradication Trial in North Carolina and Virginia in 1979.