In vitro evaluation of oviposition attractant mixture for housefly, Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae)

Houseflies are one of the important pests throughout the world. They are commonly encountered in poultry farms, dairy farms, slaughter houses and also in human households. The challenges in the chemical control of houseflies include insecticide resistance and adverse effects on the environment. Mechanical control can be employed to overcome these problems. In the present study, efficacy of a mixture of fatty acid esters as a bait to attract female houseflies was evaluated using in vitro bioassays. Single cage dual port glass olfactometer and cage test were used to evaluate the attractiveness and ovipositioninducing/enhancing properties of the mixture of fatty acid esters in laboratory-reared flies. Female flies were attracted to the fatty acid esters mixture in the no-choice olfactometry bioassay with more than 70 % of flies choosing the fatty acid esters mixture and only 27 % of flies attracted towards control. Flies also spent more time with an average of 96 seconds/fly in the arm with a mixture of fatty acid esters compared to 38 seconds/fly in the control arm. The cage test was conducted using poultry manure and cotton moistened with skimmed milk as substrates. In the cage test using 50 pairs of flies in each cage, more eggs were observed in cages containing substrate with a mixture of fatty acid esters compared to control cages. Results revealed that the oviposition attractant mixture evaluated in the study can be used in housefly traps to attract flies.