From Toxicity to Transmission: Assessing Insecticidal Bait Efficacy, Behavioral Responses, and Potential Pathogen Carriage in Poultry Litter Beetles

Abstract

The poultry litter beetles Alphitobius diaperinus is a persistent and economically important pest in poultry production systems, where infestations cause structural damage to facilities, facilitate the transmission of poultry pathogens, and increase production costs. Current management strategies rely heavily on repeated applications of chemical insecticide, a practice that accelerates the development of resistance and raises environmental and safety concerns. In this study, we evaluated efficacy of ten commercially available gel bait formulations against four A. diaperinus populations, including a laboratory-susceptible Danish population and four field populations from Braswell (North Carolina), Madison (Georgia), Pilpoint (Texas) and Neshobe (Mississippi), each with documented histories of insecticide exposure. Adult A. diaperinus were exposed to bait formulations under no-choice and food-choice conditions, and survival was analyzed using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Significant differences in mortality were observed among bait products (p < 0.05). Emamectin benzoate (Optigard), fipronil (Combat), and clothianidin (Maxforce Impact) produced rapid knockdown and high mortality of A. diaperinus, whereas indoxacarb (Advion) was consistently the least effective. The presence of alternative food significantly reduced bait-induced mortality, and field population exhibited reduced susceptibility to insecticides with prior exposure to histories, indicating emerging bait tolerance. Together, these findings underscore the importance of strategic bait placement and resistance-aware integrated pest management approaches to improve control efficacy and sustainability in poultry production facilities.