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Video Q&A ViewAttendees 1

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

10-Minute Paper

P-IE: Invasive Species On-Demand Presentations

Bread dough as a novel tool for the detection and management of a broad range of invasive pest gastropods

On-Demand
On-Demand
Invasive slugs and snails are among the most damaging pests of agriculture in temperate and tropical regions of the world. Control options, however, are limited and there is a heavy reliance on chemical molluscicides of variable efficacy. Thus, there is an ongoing need to improve management methods. One option is to identify more efficacious attractants for use in attract-and-kill approaches and/or in trapping programs. Our results showed that a simple fermenting bread dough formulation (flour, water, and yeast) was effective in attracting pest mollusk species in laboratory tests, and in multiple replicated field trials in Hawaii, Oregon, and Montana. The dough attracted significantly more terrestrial pest gastropods, including invasive species of major economic importance such as Cornu aspersum (European brown garden snail), Deroceras reticulatum (gray field slug), Xerolenta obvia (heath snail), Lissachatina fulica (giant African land snail), and Parmarion martensi (Asian semislug), than water controls. Furthermore, the dough was significantly more attractive than a widely used metaldehyde-based bait. Thus, fermenting bread dough represents a nontoxic, generic, and effective tool to aid in detection and management of pest gastropod infestations, either using baited traps or in attract-and-kill approaches. Given its simplicity, low cost, and the ready availability of its ingredients, the dough also has potential to be used in developing countries where access to commercial molluscicide baits is limited by cost.