Bulletin of Entomological Research (1960) 51, 441-460

W.N. Yule (1960)
Dieldrin lattices applied by aircraft for controlling hoppers of the red locust, Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serville)
Bulletin of Entomological Research 51 (3), 441-460
Abstract: Large-scale operational trials of dieldrin lattices applied by aircraft for controlling hoppers of the red locust, Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serv.), were carried out in the North Rukwa outbreak area in south-western Tanganyika during 1958 and 1959. Single swaths of dieldrin aqueous emulsion spray were applied by aircraft to vegetation at wide intervals and in two directions at 90°, forming a rectilinear lattice distribution of poisoned strips of vegetation over large, hopper-infested areas. Hoppers, especially those in bands, were killed on eating the poisoned vegetation in the strips which they encountered during their migrations. An accurate method of lattice layout by aircraft pilots without assistance from ground marking parties was developed, and the whole operation was used on a large scale for controlling the hopper infestation in North Rukwa in 1959.
The results of seven trials, using several lattice-spacings and dosages of dieldrin against different instars of hoppers, indicated that various useful levels of control could be obtained with different combinations of these three factors. Combinations of lattice -spacings of from 250 to 750 yd. with dieldrin swath-dosages of from 1.1 to 4.5 oz. per acre of swath against the third, fourth and fifth instars were calculated to give 50-100 per cent. control of various infestation levels of these three instars, at a cost of from 0.375 to 1.5 sh. per acre. It was calculated that a total infested area of 330 sq. miles could be sprayed with lattices by two aircraft in the duration of the third, fourth and fifth instars.
The aerial dieldrin-lattice method is compared with the best previous ground method of hopper control, and it is shown that the new method is cheaper, more effective, and more practicable than the old method, besides enabling fuller aircraft utilisation and further simplification of organisation to be obtained. A change in control strategy to concentrate once more on hoppers rather than adult locusts, as in the recent past, is recommended, so that preventive control of the red locust could be obtained with greater economy and security.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
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Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Nomadacris septemfasciata