Development and first evaluation of an attractant impregnated adhesive tape against blood-sucking flies

Authors: Zhu, Junwei - Jerry; ROH, GWANG HYUN - Gyeongsang National University; ASAMOTO, YOSUKE - Nitto Denko Inc; BIZATI, KUJTIM - Nitto Denko Inc; LIU, JEN-CHIEH - Nitto Denko Inc; Harrison, Kyle; Taylor, David; Lehmann, Alexander; OTAKE, HIRONAO - Nitto Denko Inc

Submitted to: Insect Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2021
Publication Date: 7/16/2021
Citation: Zhu, J.J., Roh, G., Asamoto, Y., Bizati, K., Liu, J., Harrison, K.E., Taylor, D.B., Lehmann, A.T., Otake, H. 2021. Development and first evaluation of an attractant impregnated adhesive tape against blood-sucking flies. Insect Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.12952.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.12952

Interpretive Summary: This is the first report of developing an attractant-impregnated adhesive tape for mass trapping biting flies. The use of m-cresol impregnated adhesive tapes deployed alongside the feedlots reduced biting fly attacks on cattle significantly and further reduce the cattle stress up to 80%. The trapping efficacy of the developed proto-type m-cresol adhesive tape lasted up to 7 days in the field under US Midwest summer weather conditions. No differences in trap catches were found among attractant loadings from 1% to 10% of the selected attractant, m-cresol. Although m-cresol release decreased starting from the second day, but no negative effects on stable fly catch efficacy.

Technical Abstract: Stable flies are considered as one of the most important arthropod pests of livestock that can reduce cattle weight gain and milk production, leading to annual economic losses in excess of $2 billion in the US cattle industry. Similar to other biting flies, host seeking behavior of stable flies is partially mediated by host and host environment associated odorants. Several attractant compounds including 1-octen-3-ol, phenol, p-cresol and m-cresol identified associated with stable fly larval development environments that have further been demonstrated to attract adult flies. The present paper reports the development of a novel attractant-impregnated adhesive tape for adult stable fly mass trapping. This is the first report of a novel technology that integrates an insect-attractant compound into an adhesive material for the purpose of biting fly management. Attractant-impregnated adhesive tapes were placed in Nebraskan cattle feedlots showed modest successes in trapping out stable flies via an m-cresol impregnated adhesive tapes outside the cattle feedlot pens. It further reduced cattle stress with field observation of significant reduction of biting fly avoidance behavior (e.g., specifically tail-wagging). These results encourage further development of attractant-impregnated adhesive tapes that may lead to a more effective stable fly management strategy