ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF CARBON DIOXIDE FOR ATTRACTING STABLE FLIES, STOMOXYS CALCITRANS (L.), TO TRAPS

Abstract

Carbon dioxide has long been used as an attractant for blood feeding insects, especially to increase the numbers of insects captured in traps. Although the use of CO₂ has become an integral part of many trapping programs, it has always been costly and difficult to use. Our attention was drawn to two products on the market which produce CO₂ from dry ingredients. One product, the BG CO₂ Generator (Biogents, Regensburg, Germany), is activated by the addition of water but the other, the ICA-TriNova LLC CO₂ generator system (ICA TriNova, LLC., Newnan, GA) is activated by the addition of a dry activator powder to dry sodium bicarbonate crystals. These products were evaluated in a large, outdoor screened enclosure against dry ice, CO₂ in compressed gas tanks, and an untreated control in a Latin Square design. All treatments using CO₂ attracted more stable flies than the untreated control. Dry ice numerically outperformed the two commercial products in 2 out of 3 tests, but the commercial products all attracted many more flies than the untreated control, and numbers were high enough to be used for field studies. Current pricing and product use are discussed.