Gel baits take cockroach control to another level

Just one female German cockroach can produce as many as 500,000 offspring in a single year. So it doesn’t take long for German cockroaches to create problems for customers, and with then numbers involved give PCOs a major challenge.

To prevent a few cockroaches from quickly multiplying into a colony, PCOs should use the most effective tools to control these impressively productive pests, advises Syngenta Technical Manager, Kai Sievert (below).

"Since the 1990s, cockroach gel baits have become some of the most effective and preferred products for cockroach management," he reported. 

Advion Cockroach Gel 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 – involving secondary and tertiary kill.

"Importantly, this can 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 the 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 Gel to kill many nymphs (secondary mortality). These nymphs then become donors and can kill other cockroaches (tertiary kill) when their faces or dead bodies are consumed.

What facilitates transfer among German cockroaches?

There are three main mechanisms that contribute to the effective transfer of insecticides among cockroaches, outlined Dr Sievert:

• 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 action of indoxacarb, dying cockroaches can become walking bait stations as they return to harborage areas."

"That means they can share the insecticide with difficult-to-reach stages, including nymphs and gravid females, that often remain in the safety of cracks and crevices," he pointed out.

Advion Cockroach is highly attractive and palatable to multiple cockroach species, making it compatible with integrated pest management programs for both residential and commercial situations.

"This makes Advion Cockroach a valuable tool to manage tough infestations and provide customers with a cockroach-free environment," advised Dr Sievert.