Sterility induced in tobacco budworms by combination of reserpine and gamma irradiation affected by age and sex of pupae

Female Heliothis virescens (F.) were sterilized completely when pupae from larvae reared on diets containing reserpine (0.1% wt/v) were exposed to 7.5, 10, 15, or 20 krad of gamma irradiation; mating frequency and longevity of resulting adults were unaffected. Although egg hatch was inhibited completely when females reared on reserpine were irradiated as 2-, 4-, 6-, and 8-day-old pupae and crossed with untreated males, some hatch occurred when they were irradiated as 10- to 12-day-old pupae. Males were not sterilized completely by the combinations of treatment (egg hatch was never inhibited completely), but when young male pupae were irradiated, the percentage egg hatch was more reduced than when older pupae were treated.