Feeding frequency and its associated effects on the production and survival rate of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes

Tsetse flies are large blood-sucking flies of the genus Glossina, which are exclusively found in Africa. They are important vectors of Trypanosomes, which cause sleeping sickness in humans and African Animal Trypanosomosis (AAT) in livestock. Due to the lack of effective vaccines to control this disease, vector control has been an ideal strategy. There are many vector control methods developed so far. Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is one of such method which depends on the mass production of male flies in the laboratory, sterilization, and release of these flies in the target area. The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different feeding frequencies on the production and survival rate of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes to identify the best feeding frequency that could optimize the production and minimize the cost of production in a massrearing insectary facility at Kaliti Tsetse Fly Mass Rearing and Irradiation Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Three experimental groups were established based on feeding frequency regimes. The first group was fed three times per week, the second four times per week, and the third group five times per week. Parameters that are routinely used for assessing colony performance such as; survival rate, fecundity, pupae per initial females (PPIF), and pupal quality were evaluated for each treatment group and statistical comparisons were made between the groups. The results revealed that feeding frequency had a crucial effect on fly production and survival. The lowest results for all parameters were obtained in flies fed three times per week and relatively the best results were obtained in the four-times-per-week feeding regime. Therefore, we recommend a further study on aspects that are not addressed in this study, such as emergency rate and progeny quality, to apply the four times per week feeding regime as it will have a positive economic impact that could enable more resources to be re-injected into the insectary compared to five or more feeding regimes which are currently in use in the study site.