Efficacy of Traps in Ant Management

Background: Ants serve as serious pests of households as well as crop fields. Ants as eusocial insects exhibit complex forms of chemical communication which makes their management difficult. This study evaluates the efficacy of different traps for ant control under laboratory condition. Methods: An experiment on ant (Meranoplus bicolor) mortality was conducted in 2022 at the College of Agriculture, Vellayani, using a completely randomised design with seven traps replicated thrice. Ten ants were used per replication and were exposed to toxicant and attractant mixtures in containers for 24 hours. Ants were then transferred to containers with moist soil and sugar solution and monitored for 20 days to record mortality. Per cent mortality was calculated using Abbott’s formula. Result: The results of the study showed that rapid and absolute mortality was obtained with fipronil 0.3 GR, rava and sugar (0.3:1:1), whereas, boric acid (0.5%) and sugar (25%) and thiamethoxam(0.0001%) and sugar (25%) exhibited delayed mortality of 65.11 and 52.85 per cent respectively on the nineteenth day after the traps were placed.