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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lincoln, Nebraska » Agroecosystem Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298545
Title: Stable fly control in cattle winter feeding sites with Novaluron

Author
item Taylor, David
item Friesen, Kristina
item Zhu, Junwei - Jerry

Submitted to: Arthropod Management Tests
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/17/2014
Publication Date: 3/31/2015
Citation: Taylor, D.B., Friesen, K.M., Zhu, J.J. 2015. Stable fly control in cattle winter feeding sites with Novaluron. Arthropod Management Tests. 39(1):K1. DOI: 10.4182/AMT.2014.K1.

Interpretive Summary: Supplemental forage is frequently provided for cattle during winter. Accumulations of waste forage mixed with manure and urine create an ideal substrate for the development of immature stable flies. These sites are considered to be primary sources of stable flies in the early summer each year. Both male and female stable flies bite cattle and other livestock to get the blood meals they need for mating and developing eggs. Their biting activity reduces the productivity of cattle and cost US producers more than $2 billion per year. In this study, we demonstrate that a single treatment with granular novaluron can provide greater than 80% control of immature stable flies developing in winter hay feeding sites for an entire season. Like cyromazine, the only other insecticide shown to be effective for managing flies developing in these sites, novaluron is an insect growth regulator that impedes insect cuticle formation. However, the two compounds affect different aspects of cuticle formation making them potentially compatible for a rotation program to reduce the possibility of the flies developing resistance. Since vertebrates do not require cuticle, both novaluron and cyromazine are less toxic to them than table salt. Annual rotation of novaluron and cyromazine for the control of flies developing in livestock winter feeding sites will provide an economically viable and environmentally sound method for controlling biting flies in pastures.

Technical Abstract: The mixture of wasted feed with manure and urine residues at livestock winter feeding sites provides an excellent substrate for the development of immature stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.). Such sites are primary sources of early summer stable flies in the central United States and limited options are available for the control of flies developing in them. A single application of granular novaluron (100 mg AI / m2) in May provided an 82% reduction in the number of adult stable flies emerging from sites where corn stalk were fed to cattle and a 91% reduction at sites where hay was fed. Stable fly control was maintained for at least 7 weeks. Novaluron offers a safe and affordable option for the control of immature stable flies developing in winter hay feeding sites. Because the mode of action of novaluron differs from that of cyromazine, annual rotation between these compounds should reduce the chances for stable flies to develop resistance to these treatments.