Assessment of Synthetic Attractive Toxic Sugar Bait (ATSB) on Aedes albopictus: An Experimental Design

ABSTRACT

Abstract@#Introduction: An experimental study was conducted to determine the effects of synthetic chemical artificial toxic sugar bait (ATSB) on adult Aedes albopictus population in a controlled environment. The method uses an “attract and kill” concept and makes use of mosquito’s sugar-feeding behaviour. Formulations of ATSB consists of natural scents as an attractant, a sugar solution as a feeding stimulant and an oral toxin such as boric acid to eliminate mosquito population. Methods: The experiment was conducted in two phases; (i) the first phase aimed to determine the optimum sucrose concentration (10%, 30%, 50% and 70%) that will elicit the highest biting and fecundity rates in female mosquitoes and (ii) the second phase aimed to identify the ATSB, optimum sucrose from phase one incorporated with boric acid (0.1%,0.5% and 1%), that cause the highest mortality rates of adult female Aedes albopictus in a laboratory environment. Results: Seventy percent sucrose concentration was selected as the optimum sucrose concentration because the ingestion of the solution cause the highest biting and fecundity rates in mosquito compare to other sucrose concentrations. Meanwhile, 1% boric acid resulted in the highest mortality rate within two days of the experiment period. Conclusion: This study has identified the optimum sucrose concentration required to attract adult mosquitoes and highlighted the efficacy of 1% boric acid as an effective mosquito adulticide. The findings highlight the potential of ATSB as a valuable vector control method which could be further developed for future use.