Aircraft applications of insecticides in East Africa. XVI.Airspray experiment with endosulfan against Glossina morsitans Westw., G. swynnertoni Aust. and G. pallidipes Aust.

Abstract

An economical method of tsetse control aimed at reducing fly numbers to a low level prior to human settlement was tried in northern Tanganyika in 1964–65 in an area containing Glossina morsitans Westw., G. swynnertoni Aust. and small numbers of G. pallidipes Aust. The major central part of the infested area, about 7½ square miles, was sprayed four times at three-weekly intervals with endosulfan from an aircraft, and the remaining peripheral parts were sprayed from the ground. In the aerial applications, the volume of spray averaged 0·0121 gal./acre per application and the amount of endosulfan averaged 0·0242 Ib./acre (a total of about 1 Ib. per 10 acres for the whole operation). The results indicated that the tsetse population was probably eradicated in the part sprayed from the air. Though the ground spraying of the surrounding parts was not completely satisfactory, the tsetse population in the whole area a year later was only about ten per cent, of its original level. The cost of the air-spraying was £88 per sq. mile.