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Crops > Vegetables > Beans > Flies, vectors of bean diseases, India

Crops Vegetables Beans Flies, vectors of bean diseases, India

Flies, vectors of bean diseases, India

December 2013. Farmers in AP, India are complaining that blue coloured houseflies are emerging from poultry droppings and spreading disease to bean crops. Can this be so?

A member wrote that he had had some experience with a number of bird droppings carrying what appears to be Erwinia carotovora, to infect Calla foliage, although the organism was not confirmed by lab analysis, but plant symptoms were identical. Turkeys have been the worst while domestic fowls and ducks have also been implicated.
In green house situations various Diptera, often Gnats, attracted to the rotting leaves, will spread soft rot organisms from plant to plant. The organism is very aggressive and I would expect that it could be transmitted to sites attractive to Diptera. Nectar and flower parts could well support growth of bacterial populations.
So while he could not pass an opinion on the situation described in India, he had evidence to support two components for the observations made.
In the member’s experience, success has been had with applications of activated “Oxine™” (Bio-Cide International, Oklahoma, USA) applied at 10 ppm controllingErwinia spp. Pseudomonas sppand Xanthomonas spp on a variety of crops. It tends to stop lesion development immediately and the lesions dry up. Apply with a compatible surfactant to the point of runoff. Repeat at 7 day intervals. Residues degrade to common salt. At a higher rate applied to the droppings it may also discourage smell and fly infestation of droppings or an insecticide may be effective at source.