The potential for control of the blowfly Lucilia sericata using odour-baited targets.

Abstract

A deterministic simulation model is used to explore the potential for control of the sheep blowfly, Lucilia sericata, using odour-baited targets. The simulations show that the ambient temperatures of 15 degrees C or 20 degrees C, 13% and 24% of the females present in a population would need to be killed per day, respectively, to prevent the population growing from its initial spring density during the summer blowfly season. In contrast, if both sexes could be sterilized, so that sterilized males were also able to disrupt the fertility of unsterilized females, only 6.5-13% of both sexes would need to be attracted and sterilized at 15 degrees C or 20 degrees C respectively. To examine whether these numbers of individuals could be attracted by targets baited with liver and sodium sulphide, mark-release-recapture studies in sheep pastures were used to quantify sticky target efficiencies. The percentage of the L.sericata population caught on any one day was shown to be positively related to average ambient temperature. At 15 degrees C each sticky target caught approximately 13% and at 20 degrees C, 41% of the females within a 20 m radius. The results indicate that, at ambient temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees C, if distributed at a density of approximately 5/ha, targets baited with liver and sodium sulphide could effectively suppress a population of L.sericata. Lower densities of targets would be required if they were able to sterilize both sexes rather than kill or if more attractive synthetic semiochemical baits could be developed.