Development of color baited toxic screens for the control of hematophagous flies – FlyScreen

FlyScreen project aims at the development and optimization of efficient, low cost and low or non-polluting methods for the control of hematophagous insects. It will consist in: (i) design and optimize specific hematophagous color baited attractant screen (excluding pollinators); (ii) Develop and evaluate in laboratory conditions various toxic systems including combinations of: encapsulated insecticides (slow release), UV and water-protection and/or diatomite coating (which advantage is the absence of chemo-resistance) and attractants; (iii) Evaluate and validate these screens in semi-natural and natural conditions to measure efficacy and safety (environmental contamination); and (iv) Promote low-cost, low-polluting, and possibly insecticide-free control methods.
extending the evaluation of the toxic fabrics and screens to tsetse flies.

Target impregnation technologies will be insured by AtoZ enterprise, while optimization, validation and safety evaluation of screens will be insured by public organisms. This low cost targeted control environmentally respectful will be easy to adopt. It will bring a major breakthrough in the control of hematophagous flies so far neglected due to the low efficacy and high cost of current insecticide spraying systems. Development of insecticide-free attracting toxic screens is the ultimate goal of FlyScreen.

on work

FlyScreen project will bring drastic improvement and adaptation of the screen to tabanids and stomoxes, using better attractant and toxic systems.

It will more precisely define the reflectance characteristics of the fabric to specifically attract biting flies and not untargeted pollinators and other beneficial insects, taking into consideration the cost of the fabric. It will consider and value the recent (unpublished) progresses on the knowledge of the biology and behaviour of biting insects through the design of the targets. It will value and benefit the recent advances of industry in the encapsulation methods of toxics on screens, the UV-protection technologies, the associations and/or synergies of insecticide, growth hormone, potentialisers and/or olfactive attractants, as well as the more even recent use of abrasive powder such as diatomites for their toxic effects on the insect cuticle. The latter opens the way to fully insecticide-free toxic target. Finally, it will consider from the very early stage the need for a cheap final product, estimated at 1 EUR/screen, to insure easy and fast adoption by the final users.

FlyScreen will generate more than 15 scientific publications on the attractivity and toxicity of the insecticide screens on the hematophagous insects and their annoyance on livestock, including medical and economical impact..

FlyScreen will bring a quickly visible benefit to the farmers, a necessary condition for high rate of adoption, which will, on its turn, allows a rapid spreading of the method amongst farmers. Society will benefit from a decrease of the wastes and GGE, an increase in livestock productivity, a reduction in transmission of pathogens, a large scale possible control of direct pest such as tabanids and stomoxes (beaches, horse riding clubs), and a significant, and possibly complete stop of the use and spread of insecticides in livestock food products and their farming system environment.

A pattent will be deposidted to protect the concept of these new toxic targets.

Facing increasing needs to feed human populations requires, more than ever, enhancing quantity, quality, safety and security of agricultural products, and, at the same time, to reduce environmental contamination. Thus, in livestock production, it is required to control blood-feeding flies such as tabanids and stable flies which are responsible of annual losses estimated at 130Kg of milk/cow and 25-60Kg of meat/ox. To the huge blood spoliation (up to 0.5 liter/day) are added: stress, loss of appetite and energy, immunosuppression and mechanical transmission of viruses (equine infectious anemia, ovine catarrhal fever), bacteria (Q fever, anthrax) and parasites (Besnoitia, Trypanosoma), with dramatic medical and economic consequences. Control of hematophagous flies is most often neglected or occasional, since insecticide spraying on walls or animals (spray, pour on) is expensive, of low efficacy and meets increasing chemo-resistance problems. Moreover, residues contamination of animal products and environment is unacceptable, especially for organic farming.

Tsetse fly control using insecticide impregnated targets proved to be efficient in Africa, because tsetse flies have low prolificacy and are very sensitive to insecticides. Unfortunately this does not apply to other hematophagous flies such as Tabanids (> 4000 species present in all types of environments and climates), Stomoxys (one species is cosmopolite) and other hematophagous insects such as Haematobia and Musca crassirostris, which are highly prolific, and may develop early chemo-resistance to insecticides.

FlyScreen project aims at the development and optimization of efficient, low cost and low or non-polluting methods for the control of hematophagous insects. It will consist in: (i) designing and optimizing specific color baited attractant screens/traps (excluding pollinators); (ii) developing and evaluating in laboratory conditions various toxic systems including: growth hormones or insecticides incorporation into polymers (slow release), single or combined, UV and water-protection and/or special abrasive coating (which advantage is the absence of chemo-resistance) and attractants; (iii) evaluating and validating these screens in semi-liberty and field conditions to measure efficacy and environmental safety; and (iv) promoting low-cost, low-polluting, and possibly insecticide-free control methods.

FlyScreen project will be carried out in partnership by UMR17/InterTryp (CIRAD-bios) bringing expertise in biting insects and tropical field spots for evaluation, as well as expertise on mathematical modeling to support impact and cost studies; UMR1225/ IHAP (National Veterinary School of Toulouse ; ENVT), bringing biological material (evaluation on laboratory reared stomoxes) and field spots in France, UMR 5175/CEFE UPVM (University Paul-Valery, Montpellier), bringing expertise in stomoxes and biting insect trapping technologies, Kasetsart University (Bangkok, Thailand) offering facilities for field experimentation in a rich entomofauna area, and “AtoZ” enterprise, specialized in the development, production and commercialization of attractive fabrics and/or mosquito nets, processed under various technologies including biocide incorporation and coating. Additional support from CIRDES and IRD will allow extending the evaluation of toxic fabrics and screens to tsetse flies.

Relevant treatment technologies and prototyping will be handled by AtoZ enterprise, while optimization, validation and safety assessment of screens will be handled by public organisms. These low cost targeted and environmentally friendly control tools should be easy to adopt. They will bring a major breakthrough in the control of hematophagous flies, so far neglected due to the low efficacy and high cost of current insecticide spraying systems. Development of insecticide-free attractive lethal screens is the ultimate goal of FlyScreen.