Management of the poultry red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae, using silica-based acaricides

Abstract

Four silica-based acaricides were examined in laboratory tests for their effectiveness against poultry red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae. All acaricides resulted in 100% mite mortality. Two groups of active ingredients could be differentiated. The products Silicosec® and Ewazid®, based on naturally occurring diatomaceous earth (DE), killed 100% of adult D. gallinae within 48 h exposure time. The time to kill 50% of the mites (LT50) was calculated to be 31.7 and 34.9 h, respectively. The other two products, containing aggregates and agglomerates of pyrogenic synthetic amorphous silicon dioxide as active ingredients, killed the mites in a significantly shorter time: LT50 was 6.3 h for the liquid product Fossil Shield® Instant White and 11.8 h for the powdery product Fossil Shield 90.0 White. This is more remarkable as the quantities of active ingredients used for the DE treatments were several folds higher. The effectiveness of all tested products was also shown in practical tests. A professional company treated five chicken houses on one farm in the Berlin–Brandenburg region with the test products, three houses with Fossil Shield Instant White and one each with Ewazid and Silicosec. Over a period of 46 weeks after stocking, the mite development in the houses was assessed. Only in one of the houses, treated with Fossil Shield Instant White, the mite population remained permanently low. In two houses treated with Fossil Shield Instant White, small mite colonies appeared in week 36, which were controlled by a follow-up spot treatment in week 41. In the houses treated with DE, the first mite colonies appeared 12 weeks after stocking. The number increased continuously over the experimental period and in week 31 after stocking there were clearly visible colonies (2–3 cm diameter) and the first mites could also be detected on the chicken eggs. At this time both houses were treated again with a follow-up spot-treatment, which only led to a slight improvement in one house and to a stabilization of the infestation in the other house. In week 41, large mite colonies were detected in both houses. A spot treatment at this point was ineffective in reducing the infestation. The tests showed faster acaricidal action of the products with the synthetic active ingredients compared to the natural DE-based products. This matches the shorter killing times under laboratory conditions. The experiments in a commercial chicken farm showed that it is possible to control the mite population for a period of 46 weeks by using physically effective SiO2-based products. These products are therefore an effective alternative to the use of chemical acaricides.

Advances in Non-Chemical Tools to Control Poultry Hematophagous Mites

“…The mite remains inside crevices, in organic materials, protected from contact with the products sprayed in the environment [7,53,102]. Ulrich and Han [103] obtained good mortality results against D. gallinae with products based on diatomaceous earth under laboratory conditions, but did not obtain significant results when using the same products in field tests, which may have been influenced by the physical properties of the products [103], ambient humidity [78], or changes in climate that did not allow the mites to absorb the products [103]. The numbers 1,2 correspond to product, chemical class, and mortality.…”

Toxic, Repellent, and Oviposition-Inhibiting Effects of Almina Diatomaceous Earth on Tetranychus urticae Koch, 1836 (Acari: Tetranychidae)

“…DE has many commercial preparations such as Drycide, Insecto ® , Perma Guard, Untreated, Silicosec, and Diafil 610, which are generally used around the world (Athanassiou et al, 2003;Ziaee and Khashaveh, 2007;Wakil et al, 2010;Alagöz and Sağlam, 2022). In studies with the Acarina order, different formulations of diatomaceous earth are generally focused on the families Dermanyssidae (Kilpinen and Steenberg, 2009;Steenberg and Kilpinen, 2014;Kilpinen and Steenberg, 2016;Alves et al, 2019;Alves et al, 2020;Ulrichs et al, 2020), and Macronyssidae (Mullens et al, 2012;Martin and Mullens, 2012;Murillo and Mullens, 2016). There are few studies on the effectiveness of DE on T. urticae (Shah and Appleby, 2019;Başkaya, 2020).…”

Simultaneous determination of nereistoxin insecticides in foods of animal origins by combining pH-dependent reversible partitioning with hydrophilic interaction chromatography-mass spectrometry

“…However, it also increases the number of insect pests and diseases, leading to the heavy use of veterinary drugs during animal husbandry. Husbandry operations employ many different types of veterinary drugs, including organophosphates, carbamates, and pyrethroids, to control poultry red mite infestations and prevent economic losses due to reduced egg production 3 , 4 . In 2007, European authorities reported that eggs and chickens were contaminated with pesticides banned in livestock farming, such as fipronil.…”

“…Eggs tainted with insecticides have also been discovered in Korea, which has resulted in major food safety-related issues. Because few veterinary drugs are registered as insecticides in Korea and resistance to approved acaricides is prevalent 4 , 5 , insecticides are often illegally used for cage-grown animals.…”