The project aims to operationalise the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) against Bactrocera dorsalis, the Oriental fruit fly in La Réunion. This invasive fruit fly was first detected in Réunion in 2017, and is a priority quarantine organism, which has severely affected local fruit and its export, particularly mango (with losses multiplied by 2 to 3.5, Grechi et al. 2022). This situation has led to a significant increase in the use of phytopharmaceutical products (Gervais 2018). In response, this project aims to implement SIT as a new sustainable and innovative lever of action. This technique is based on sterilising males by irradiation, then releasing them in large numbers to induce sterile mating. As part of the “agro-ecological protection” lever, the project is based on solid experience (establishment and maintenance of a small-scale B. dorsalis farm in La Réunion, data on the biology, behaviour, dispersal and dynamics of (wild) B. dorsalis populations at the planned pilot site in mango orchards (Moquet et al., submitted). It will overcome several technical challenges:

- determining optimal X-ray doses for effective sterilization without altering sexual behaviour,

- scaling up rearing with optimised diets to reduce costs,

- testing under real conditions in mango orchards,

- modelling for optimised release strategies.