Available Technology

Insect dipteran pests damage a wide range of agricultural crops and livestock, and transmit a variety of vector-borne diseases to humans. Current control methods heavily depend on non-specific chemical insecticides which negatively impact the environment and human health and can lead to chemical resistance. There is a need to replace current control methods with environmentally friendly alternatives. ARS has developed an insecticidal formulation based on non-nutritive sugars to control spotted-wing drosophila adults, and it has potential to control other fly pests and mosquitoes.

Benefits
• The artificial sweetener formulation is a biologically-based insecticide
• Could be an organic control alternative to chemical insecticides
• Provides a safe and simple method

Applications
• The sugar formulation can be sprayed directly on berry crops including blueberry plants
• This formulation can be used as a delivery agent or feeding attractant combined with conventional or biological insecticides to enhance insecticidal efficacy
• The method can be expanded to other Dipteran pests