Location: Mosquito and Fly Research
Project Number: 6036-32000-053-012-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2017
End Date: Jun 30, 2022
Objective:
Developing a novel and effective stable fly management strategy utilizing several tactics, particularly the incorporation of innovative uses of attractants and repellents in a multi-tactic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy.
Approach:
ARS investigator will lead design of trap implementation and development and contribute to studies to compare standard spray application treatments and push-pull treatments for stable fly management. For design of trap application methods, white panel traps used in previous studies will be coated with tack trap to obtain fly capture rates and to assess the captured flies for their
reproductive condition (sex, reproductive status (Scholl 1980). For each experiment, five pairs of baited and unbaited traps will be placed about 3 m apart and 50 cm above ground level. Trap pairs will be separated by 50 m. Traps will be monitored daily for five consecutive days. In a second part of the study, Vestergaard S.A. will contribute results from independent, parallel studies to optimize NZI traps for stable flies based on work conducted in the United States, Reunion Island (Gilles et al. 2007) and Costa Rica. These involve trials with white insecticide treated fabrics, following the publication of Solorzano et al. (2015) showing the fabrics are highly attractive to all ages of stable flies in Costa Rica. If available during the period of this study, Vestergaard stable fly traps will compared against the best white panel traps developed in Part 1 of the study. Comparisons and design will be similar to the first part of this section. All trials will be done in cooperator fields and research sites in Nebraska and Florida. Test dates and host animals are dependent upon the presence of stable flies in numbers large enough to produce meaningful data, e.g., mean = 50 to 100 stable flies per trap per 24-hr period.
