Preliminary Field Experiments with Sterile Males for Eradication of the Boll Weevil1

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Abstract
During 1962 apholate-sterilized male boll weevils, Anthonomus grandis Boheman, normal males, and virgin untreated females were released in 2 experimental 1-acre plots of cotton in Virginia and Tennessee in the ratio of 20:1:1 in each of 5 uniformly distributed points. In 7 additional weekly releases, about 20 sterile males were placed at each distribution point. Release of the sterile male failed to achieve eradication, possibly because of low competitiveness of the males subjected to this sterilant. In a third experimental plot in Louisiana, 10 gravid females were released and permitted to oviposit for 6 days before the initiation of a sterile-male release program designed to provide an overwhelming number of sterile males at the height of the F1 emergence. A total of 8850 sterile males, released over an 8-week period, prevented or nullified matings between the ensuing F1 males and females. Dissection of ovipsition-punctured squares, collected from the 4th to 11th week after release of sterile males began, failed to yield a larva, pupa, or adult. Proof that eradication was achieved was obtained on the 17th week of the experiment when no egg or feeding punctures were found in 2 examinations of all the squares and bolls on plants in the field. A high ratio of sterile insects was required to achieve eradication, but the experiment established that the sterility principle could be applied for the elimination of a boll weevil population, even when the sterile males used were low in mating competitiveness.

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