UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA, NORWICH, ENGLAND. A lot of crops around the world suffer from different pest infestation and have started to become an alarming issue in terms of food production. A team of researchers have recently developed a study involving genetically-created fruit flies. The experimental creatures are said to possibly be the key to control the real problem of pest infestation in crops. The new method is currently called “Sterile Insect Technique”. It would be used to control the growing population of the flies.

To be specific, this was created for the Mediterranean fruit fly which makes the worst infestation in crops. This type of fruit fly swarms over 300 types of agricultural plants in many countries. People have used different ways to prevent the bugs from infesting their crops such as applying insecticides, traps with bait, and a lot more. The creation of (SIT) Sterile Insect Technique is said to be the safest for the environment. These genetically modified insects are set free and are allowed to mate with the females, which interferes with the local male species. Once mated, only male offspring remain alive. By using this method, female offspring will become lesser which makes their population decrease over time.

Doctor Philip Leftwich led this research together with his team from the University of East Angua’s school of Biological Sciences and Oxitec. They created a wild environment to see if this will become a success. During the study, they noticed that there was a big decrease in the entire fruit fly population in the artificially-contained environment. According to Doctor Leftwich, this is a very economical and environmental-friendly method of eliminating the rapid reproduction of the particular insect.

Currently, the research team has done this practice in contained areas. They are also working on getting a go ahead signal to have this done in a more natural wide open area.

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