12th International Workshop on Arthropod Mass Rearing & Quality Control. 19 - 22 October 2010, Vienna, Austria

The 12th workshop of the IOBC global working group on Arthropod Mass Rearing & Quality Control (AMRQC) was held in Vienna, Austria from 19 to 22 October 2010, under the theme of "Blueprint for the future of arthropod rearing and quality assurance".

This international workshop was organized as a joint meeting of AMRQC, the Association of Natural Bio-control Producers (ANBP), the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA), and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Subcommittee E35.30 on Natural Multi-Cellular Biological Control Organisms in cooperation with the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. The workshop was co-chaired by AMRQC co-convenors Thomas Coudron (USDA-ARS, USA) and Patrick De Clercq (Ghent University, Belgium) with Andrew Parker of the Insect Pest Control Laboratory, FAO/IAEA, acting as the meeting's host.

12th International Workshop on Arthropod Mass Rearing & Quality Control. 19-22 October 2010, Vienna, Austria Some 100 delegates from 29 countries participated in the event. The workshop focused on different issues related to the rearing of entomophagous and phytophagous insects and mites and of entomopathogenic nematodes, and gave attention to the principles and practices of quality assurance. 41 oral presentations and 23 posters addressed the different aspects of arthropod and nematode rearing as it relates to quality assurance. The workshop was organized in seven symposia that served as a basis for discussion and exchange, with the final aim of improving collaboration among scientists, practitioners and regulators. An important take home message for the meeting was that workers on invertebrate rearing in the field of integrated pest management, biological control or sterile insect techniques can learn from those who are producing invertebrates for very different purposes, like insects reared for human or animal food, as they face similar challenges.

The Joint FAO/IAEA Division, through the Insect Pest Control subprogramme, assists member states with the development of pest control procedures utilizing nuclear techniques. All these techniques, including SIT, F1 sterility and parasitoid rearing, require large scale rearing of the pest or host and the AMRQC meetings provide invaluable forums for our partners to meet other researchers, rearing groups and commercial organizations involved in large scale rearing to exchange ideas and to build connections.

Issues of particular importance that were discussed included the emerging field of symbiotic prokaryotes and their effects on the quality, competitiveness and survival of arthropods. Almost wherever it is examined, it is found that symbiotic bacteria or other prokaryotes have a significant effect on their host's biology, from nutrition to behaviour and mating compatibility. Unless these effects are taken into account in the procedures and quality control for mass rearing the arthropods produced will be inferior to wild ones. The importance of strategies to manage or control the risk to mass rearing posed by old and new pathogens was also highlighted, with new pathogens constantly presenting new challenges.

The meeting programme with links to the presentations and posters is available at: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Announcements.asp?ConfID=38586