Population of litter beetle, Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) (Coleoptera; Tenebrionidae) during a flock cycle raised in rainy season in broiler houses, Nakhonsawan province

Abstract

The litter beetle (Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer)) is one of the most important insect pests in poultry farms due to their pathogenic organism reservoirs. They also cause damage to poultry houses causing excessive cost to the farmers. Therefore, the population of lesser mealworm was studied during flock cycle raised in rainy season in 2 broiler chicken farms located in Muang district, Nakhonsawan province. Farm A located in Nongkrot sub-district (13 Sep – 25 Oct, 2014) and Farm B located in Nongpling sub-district (21 Aug – 30 Sep, 2014). The experiment was conducted in 2 houses for each farm using Arends tube traps. The samples were collected weekly for 6 weeks. Meanwhile, the environmental condition (temperature: T and relative humidity: RH) in broiler houses was measured. In this study, the correlation between insect counts (larvae pupae and adults) and environmental condition was not found. The range of T and RH from week 1 to 6 of both farms showed that Farm A was 27.66 – 31.56 ^oC and 73.03 – 87.06%, respectively whereas Farm B was 28.19 – 33.32 ^oC and 70.07 – 85.88%, respectively. Total insect counts from Farm A and B were significantly different (p-value < 0.05). Larvae were the most abundance (Farm A = 41.54 /m²; Farm B = 13.32 /m²), secondly was adults (Farm A = 4.27 /m²; Farm B = 1.15 /m²). However, the number of pupae was not significantly different (Farm A = 1.08 /m²; Farm B = 0.85 /m²). Furthermore, the total larvae trapped increased from the first to the fifth week and then decreased in the sixth week, whereas adults collected increased continuously from the first to the sixth week.