Study of attractiveness and palatability of the German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (L) to Peanut butter baits under laboratory conditions

Abstract

This research has been conducted at the laboratory of Dubai Public Health Pest Control
Section / Dubai Municipality. The project consists of two parts: The first part concerns the
evaluation of attractivity and palatability of the German cockroach Blattella germanica to
peanut butter baits under the laboratory conditions. The sources of this butter were Sudan,
India, China, USA and Ethiopia. The apparatus used in these experiments was a fivechambered choice chamber denoted as the New Pentadevice Arena (60 cm in diameter). One
fine strip of each food was placed in each chamber. Fifty insects of different stages of
development were placed at the center of the arena. Number of insects in each chamber was
counted after ten minutes. The Sudanese peanut butter food (PNB4) showed the highest
record of numbers of insects. A third method was adopted to confirm these results– namely
biting effects.