• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Search Projects
  • Help
  • Log in

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education

Grants And Education To Advance Innovations In Sustainable Agriculture
  • Grants
  • Project Reports
    • Search Projects
    • Search Project Coordinators
  • Learning Center
  • SARE In Your State
  • Events
  • Newsroom
  • About SARE

Final Report for FNE93-015

Evaluation of a Biocontrol Method for Farm Fly Management

FNE93-015 (project overview)
Project Type: Farmer
Funds awarded in 1993: $2,155.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/1993
Region: Northeast
State: Pennsylvania
Project Leader:
Diane Mathews-Gehringer
4 Springs Farm
Expand All Collapse All

Project Information

Summary:

Ms. Matthews experimented with parasitic wasps as an alternative to chemical control of flies around livestock. She released the wasps in several barns, and used insecticide in others. To compare the two treatments she placed white cards around the treated areas, and counted the accumulation of fly specks on them. She also placed quantities of dung in containers, which she closed, then reopened after a time to count the adult wasps emerged from maggots they had parasitized in the dung.

The experiment was inconclusive. Fly speck counts on the white cards were inconsistent and she did not observe any emerged wasps in the closed containers of dung. She mentions, however, that her father, who had not been paying attention to the experiment, remarked on the diminished numbers of flies in the vicinity where the parasitic wasps had been released. For this reason alone she believes the use of parasitic wasps merits further investigation.

Cooperators

Click linked name(s) to expand
Bob Leiby
Techincal Advisor
Penn State Cooperative Extentsion
Penn Yan , PA 14527
Return to Project Overview
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.

Primary Sidebar

Footer

SARE - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education USDA
1122 Patapsco Building | University of Maryland | College Park, MD 20742-6715

This site is maintained by SARE Outreach for the SARE program and features research projects supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. SARE Outreach operates under cooperative agreement award No. 2018-38640-28731 with the University of Maryland to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education © 2019
Help | Contact us