Nutritional Value of Fresh and Composted Poultry Manure for House Fly (Diptera: Muscidae) Larvae

Abstract

A sand dilution assay was developed to study how composting affects the nutritional value of stored laying hen manure for larvae of the house fly, Musca domestica L. Equal numbers of eggs were inoculated into graded amounts of stock manure and incubated under standardized moisture conditions. Survival and mass per emerging adult diminished with progressively lower supplies of manure per larva, whether the manure was diluted into clean, white sand or placed on top of an equal volume of sand. Mass of adults per original egg was an increasing linear function of log, manure supply, with extrapolated lower supply threshold, S(L) = 0.06 g per egg. It is proposed that S(L) is a measure of a substrate's nutritional value--the greater the threshold, the lower its value. Dilution of the same stock manure in loam or sandy loam reduced the manure's apparent nutritional value, and dehydration of the stock manure to 20% water before rehydration to 70% also reduced nutritional value. Assays of bulk samples from replicated piles of laying hen manure mixed with sunflower hulls indicated the mixture was nutritionally equivalent to the stock manure, but that 3-4 wk of subsequent aerobic, thermophilic composting reduced it to approximately 10% of its initial value. These results suggest that composting may be a useful technique for reducing the fly breeding potential of laying hen manure and other substrates that must be stored before spreading and incorporation on crop land.

House Fly (Musca domestica L.) (Diptera Muscidae) Development in Different Types of Manure

“…In effect, Moon et al (2001) established that as a product of the rise of temperature in the composting process, the moisture of the organic material is reduced to levels below 40%. These moisture levels do not permit the development of the house fly given that the optimum moisture for its development is in the range of 50 to 80%, a condition that is supported by the present results.…”

Mechanism, stability and fitness cost of resistance to pyriproxyfen in the house fly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae)

“…Large manure heaps in livestock farms are ideal breeding sites for M. domestica [4]. High densities of M. domestica cause economic losses in poultry and dairy farms by deteriorating the quality and reducing the quantity of products [5,6]. Chemical control is addressed as the principle management tool for M. domestica worldwide [7].…”

Selection, resistance risk assessment, and reversion toward susceptibility of pyriproxyfen in Musca domestica L.

“…Hot, humid environment and large manure heaps serve as ideal breeding source for M. domestica (Acevedo et al 2009;Khan et al 2012). High population density of M. domestica in poultry farms causes economic losses through deteriorating quality of poultry products (Acevedo et al 2009;Moon et al 2001). Chemical control has the potential to suppress M. domestica populations, but resistance to insecticides limits its efficacy (Khan et al 2013;Scott et al 2000).…”