ABSTRACT
Since the sterile insect technique (SIT) relies upon released sterile male insects efficiently competing with wild males to mate with wild females, it follows that mass-rearing of insects is one of the principal steps in the process. Mass-rearing for the SIT presents both problems and opportunities due to the increased scale involved compared with rearing insects for most other purposes. This chapter discusses facility design, environmental concerns, strain management, quality control, automation, diet, sex separation, marking, and storage in relation to rearing for the SIT. The cost of sterile insect production drops rapidly with increasing scale, but the point at which the SIT becomes economic in comparison with other methods will depend on factors such as the species concerned, local costs, and the cost of competing technologies. However, optimizing rearing for numbers without regard to quality may compromise the effectiveness of the SIT. In the future, improvements in sex-separation technologies and in understanding the impact of microbiota on insect quality may lead to significant improvements in both rearing efficiency and quality. The list of target pest species for which mass-rearing systems have been, or are being, developed continues to expand.
