Housefly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), is an important insect-pest owing to its disease transmitting capability in both humans and animals e.g. diarrhea, gastroenteritis diseases, lumpy skin disease, cholera. Residual insecticides are widely used to control houseflies that pose serious threat to human and animal health as well as to the environment. The population resurgence after insecticidal spray is also a common problem in many cases. Transgenerational studies can be very helpful to see the fate of insecticidal sprays. In the current study, we determined transgenerational effects of sublethal doses of diafenthiuron using Age-stage two-sex life table analysis, while focusing on potential use of diafenthiuron in baits. After treating adult flies with three different doses of diafenthiuron viz. LC10, LC20 and LC50, the progeny depicted significant changes regarding pre-adult duration (shorter in control), male and female longevity of their progeny were observed (more adult longevity in control). Additionally, population growth parameters viz. intrinsic rate of growth (r) (-0.03-0.12 per day), net reproductive rate (R0) (0.50-9.98), limiting rate of growth (λ) (0.96-1.13 per day) were also significantly reduced in the progeny of treated adults. Based on the decreased biotic potential i.e. intrinsic rate of growth and other population parameters, diafenthiuron can be recommended as an effective insecticide even at lower doses.
Keywords: Biotic potential; Hormetic effect; Insect growth; Insect-baits; Survival rate.
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