New product from Elanco for red mites
A new weapon in the battle against red mites is being offered by animal health company Elanco, with the launch of its new biocide Elector.
According to company executive Richard Hack, the product has a unique action, hitting two nerve sites at once and so reducing resistance build-up.
Larvae and adult mites are killed on contact with spray droplets, and also die when walking over residue on treated surfaces, so cutting down the need for repeat treatments.
Yet Elector – which contains the active ingredient spinosad – is relatively benign. The laying hens do not have to be removed during spraying and the eggs can still be sold.
“In fact, we recommend you spray when the hens are present, as red mites are more mobile at this time,” Mr Hack told a launch seminar at Warwick Castle on the eve of the Pig and Poultry Fair.
Application procedures were key, he added, and despite the lack of resistance seen so far in red mite populations, rotation with other control products after every two flocks was recommended.
Elanco had identified red mites in Europe as a suitable target for Elector, which has been used in the USA for four years to combat darkling beetle in poultry sheds.
Lab tests and field trials in UK situations had confirmed the efficacy of the product, said Elanco executive Guy Appleby.
Following approval by the UK licensing authorities last autumn, Elector was now being rolled out through vets and three distributors – Bowden and Knight, Animals Aids and Farmtech Services.
The damage caused by red mites to the laying flock in the UK and Europe was spelled out by Stephen Lister of Crowshall Veterinary Services. He explained how red mites could double their population in just one week, with infestation hitting 500,000 mites per hen in severe cases.
“A hen can lose 5% of its blood volume in one night,” he said.
The effect was a loss of egg production and egg quality, and in some cases the death of the bird, inflicting a high cost on the industry.
* For more information see next month’s issue of Poultry World, out on 4 June
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