Since one female German cockroach has the ability to produce as many as 500,000 offspring in a single year, it doesn’t take long for German cockroaches to give Pest Management Professionals (PMPs) a headache. To prevent a few cockroaches from quickly multiplying into a colony, PMPs should use the most effective tools to control these impressively productive pests.
Since the 1990s, cockroach gel baits have become some of the most effective and preferred products for cockroach management. Advion® Cockroach gel bait from Syngenta contains a highly palatable formulation with a low impact active ingredient, indoxacarb. Its formulation has the unique ability to cascade through a cockroach population at two levels – secondary and tertiary kill – to effectively overcome the reproductive potential of German cockroaches.
What is tertiary kill?
Tertiary kill (or transfer) is a type of horizontal transfer of insecticide. Horizontal transfer occurs when insecticide is passed among individuals of the same population. Research has shown a primary donor can transfer an active ingredient to primary recipients, which then become secondary donors. For example, a single adult cockroach can consume a lethal dose of Advion Cockroach to kill many nymphs (secondary mortality). These nymphs then become donors and can kill other cockroaches (tertiary kill).
A laboratory study conducted at Purdue University found that excretions from a single Advion Cockroach gel bait-fed cockroach adult killed 76 percent of nymphs within 72 hours. These dead nymphs then became an attractive food source for other adult cockroaches. The dead nymphs contained enough indoxacarb to kill 81 percent of adult cockroaches within 72 hours. Thus, the single bait-fed cockroach ended up controlling 54 members of its own family.1
To see how tertiary kills works, please see “Make cockroach callbacks a thing of the past with Advion Cockroach”.
What facilitates transfer among German cockroaches?
There are three main mechanisms that contribute to the effective transfer of insecticides among cockroaches:
- Coprophagy is the ingestion of feces. Cockroach nymphs readily feed on the feces or rectal region of fellow cockroaches.
- Necrophagy is the ingestion of dead cockroaches.
- Emetophagy is ingestion of excretions from dying cockroaches.
All three mechanisms contribute to the transfer of indoxacarb throughout the cockroach population. Because of the slow-acting nature of indoxacarb, dying cockroaches can become walking bait stations as they return to harborage areas and can share the product with difficult-to-reach stages, like nymphs, that often remain in the safety of cracks and crevices.
Advion Cockroach is highly attractive and palatable to multiple cockroach species, making it compatible with integrated pest management programs for both residential and commercial accounts. This makes Advion Cockroach a valuable tool to manage tough infestations and provide your customers with a cockroach-free environment.
For more information about Advion Cockroach gel bait, contact your local Syngenta territory manager.
Reference:
1Buczkowski, G., C.W. Scherer, and G. Bennett. 2008. Horizontal Transfer of Bait in the German Cockroach: Indoxacarb Causes Secondary and Tertiary Mortality. J. Econ. Entomol. 101(3): 894-901.
©2016 Syngenta. Important: Always read and follow label instructions. Some products may not be registered for sale or use in all states or counties. Please check with your local extension service to ensure registration status. Advion®, For Life Uninterrupted™ and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. Syngenta Customer Center: 1-866-SYNGENT(A) (796-4368). |