 Hi, we will discuss the various components of insect pest management. In the current scenario, because of indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides, which has led to the insecticidal resistance because of the environmental residue problem and also the well-known adverse health effects, we started thinking alternative methods. These technologies need to develop considering in mind their ecological compatibility, their environmental safety and if any technology which has an influence on the reproductive suppression which is an welcome issue. And lastly, keeping all these things in mind, one need to have the suitable alternative which should be a nonchemical means and if it is biological, this is most accepted or else at least it should be parabiological in nature. So, in this category, we have the another new component of IPM that is the use of nuclear techniques in pest management. These nuclear techniques, there are different methods in it. One is sterile insect technique which is also called as SIT. Sometimes it is also referred as sterile insect release technique, SI-RT and followed it up with this is other radiogenetic tactics wherein we use the F1 sterility of the insects wherein chromosomal aberrations is normally seen which induces sterility in insects. The other means of radiation technology usage is in biological control which are the radiation technology and then the radiation hormoses and then disinfestation of stored products and agro commodities which is very much essential in quarantine. These use of nuclear techniques in pest management is highly advantageous because it is ecologically most compatible and then it is a parabiological approach and then it is non-transonic. In the current event, anything transonic is not accepted by the forming community or even the policy makers, hence this is a non-transonic technique and environmentally most safe and then there is no question of any radioactivity left in the ecosystem hence there is no question of any residue left in the ecosystem. Because of these advantages, the nuclear technique finds a better place in IPM. If you understand the characteristics of electromagnetic spectrum of light, it has various sources of radiation from gamma rays, x rays, uv rays, visible rays, infrared rays, microwave rays, radio waves. It is the gamma rays which plays a major role in pest management through radiation technique because of the frequency, wavelength and the quantum of radiation. It induces a chemical effect known as ionizing effect which has a sterility inducing effect. So that is why this particular gamma rays is most useful in the radiation technology. The sterilization dosage required for insects belonging to different groups or different orders varies considerably. Even within the group also there is a significant variation. For example, in case of Lepidoptera, if you see the sterilization dose which is always expressed as gray varies from 40 to 400. This means that each species of the insect even within Lepidoptera needs to be worked out. Some may need 80 gray, some may need 120 gray. It may have to be standardized before taking it to the practical application. Then another concept or requirement in radiation technology is it has to be done on an area wide basis. It is not that in simple in one acre or 10 acres it can be implemented. No. At least 100 hectares or 250 acres this technique needs to be implemented. That is why this sit technique becomes successful only when it is done on an area wide because population suppression should take place on an area basis and we need to augment larger area and we need to produce sterile insects in coupled with parasitoids and also it should be synergistic with other methods particularly the chemical control. This sit technique or sterile insect technique was first conceived by Professor Nippling and he was the man who is mainly responsible in showing the world the successful case of screw worm fly management, cochlea omnia hominivorax which is at best on majority of the domesticated animals. He released these sterile male insects and to the tune of 10 to 100 times compared to the wild population because of this he observed the sterile males mating with the native females producing fertilized but sterile eggs. So ultimately in fifth generation he could achieve almost the eradication of screw worm from the area where he did his trials. So this tremendous success of a sit program on screw worm led to investigation by other scientists on other various crop s and you know international atomic energy agency which is located in Vienna, Austria coordinates all the research programs, all the technical programs associated with the sit. If anybody wants to have the project working on this they should contact them for further studies. In simple sterile insect technique can be defined as a genetic method of pest suppression involving mass release of compatible but sterile insects into wild fertile pest population to overwhelm and suppress its reproductive capacity often eventually to the point of extinction. Remember this by this technique we may eradicate the pest species from the ecosystem. This is another advantage and if you know if you release through aerial it the sterile male will compete with the natural or the wild male and female and because of successful mating then only successful mating in the sense it should compete with the natural male and natural female for mating then only we see the success in sit technology. This sit technology involves six principles which is most important. The first one is rearing because we need to produce large number of insects we should have a standardized and cost effective rearing technology of the pest species that we are interested. Then the second one is the treatment the dosage of sterilization needs to be standardized preferably at low dosage then only the technology becomes most successful and then the most important thing is competitiveness. The sterile insect should compete with the natural male and female in flight in other behavioral activities particularly in mating with the natural male or female population then only the sit will be successful and then the release technology how to release when to release how many numbers to be released or important questions to be answered this has to be standardized before the sit program is initiated in a large scale and then the evaluation procedure what is the impact of the release program how to assess it what is the method of assessment has to be standardized lastly the reinvestation the sit program you know at the end of the season there will be always some population left unsterilized and this population or the wild population again multiplies in the next season to cause economic damage there should be always a buffer zone of sterile insect release into the ecosystem so that has to be maintained at the end of the season. So these are the six basic principle for a successful sterile insect technique program another important thing to note is that this sterile insect technique should become a component of IPM not as a sole method if somebody is thinking that through sterile insect any number of amount of release we can achieve eradication no in the initial stage it has to be the most effective method like chemical control or the use of insecticides has to be used so that the population in the natural ecosystem should be brought down less than 50 percent later in the strategy we can use sterile insect technique maybe 2 to 10 releases can eradicate the pest species from the given agro ecosystem. So that is why sterile insect technique can become a component it should be usable in the later phase of IPM strategy some of the success stories if you just see the literature the first one as I said is the screwworm fly management particularly in various places in the United States in Netherlands in Libya then we have another most devastating pest Mexican fruit fly on citrus which is totally eradicated from the northern Mexico then we have a veterinary pest sassy fly is the major problem on higher animals including human being from the African continent it is eradicated then madfly or Mediterranean fruit fly this is another economically important insect pest which is eradicated by this technique from northern part of child up to the southern part of Peru that means all along the Mediterranean belt this pest was eradicated using this technique and then the sweet potato we will was also eradicated from an island in Japan then you know various other insect pest where in this particular sit technology has worked as I said in screwworm fly as I said Mediterranean fruit fly then melon fly pink bull worm which is another important pest of cotton in USA was been eradicated using this sit technique then set sea fly then mosquitoes in USA and African areas has been eradicated and then bull we will which is another important pest of cotton has been eradicated from southern southeastern USA using this technique then Mexican fruit fly then gypsy moth an important temperate tree species pest from USA northern USA and Canada has been eradicated then stable fly then horn fly from USA then corn earworm which is a major pest of corn in USA the successful results have been obtained with the sit technology and lastly the tobacco horn worm on tobacco again in USA the successful eradication has been done if you see the successful cases maximum of successful cases has been obtained from USA followed by other countries particularly from India it is still in the infancy stage lot of work needs to be undertaken in the next class we will try to understand how this leptopterous insects can be managed using this radiation technology thank you.