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Shoo, fly! Catnip oil repels bloodsucking flies

Date:
December 13, 2010
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
Catnip, the plant that attracts domestic cats like an irresistible force, has proven 99 percent effective in repelling the blood-sucking flies that attack horses and cows, causing $2 billion in annual loses to the cattle industry.
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Catnip, the plant that attracts domestic cats like an irresistible force, has proven 99 percent effective in repelling the blood-sucking flies that attack horses and cows, causing $2 billion in annual loses to the cattle industry. That's the word from a report published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Junwei Zhu and colleagues note that stable flies not only inflict painful bites, but also transmit multiple diseases. Cattle harried by these bloodsuckers may produce less meat and milk, have trouble reproducing, and develop diseases that can be fatal. All traditional methods for controlling stable flies -- even heavy applications of powerful insecticides -- have proven less than effective. The scientists thus turned to catnip oil, already known to repel more than a dozen families of insects, including house flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches.

They made pellets of catnip oil, soy, and paraffin wax, and spread them in a cattle feedlot. Within minutes, the pellets shooed the flies away, with the repellent action lasting for about three hours. Pellets without catnip oil, in contrast, had no effect. The scientists now are working on making the repellent action last longer, which they say is the key to putting catnip to use in protecting livestock both in feedlots and pastures.


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Materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Junwei J. Zhu, Christopher A. Dunlap, Robert W. Behle, Dennis R. Berkebile, Brian Wienhold. Repellency of a Wax-Based Catnip-Oil Formulation against Stable Flies. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010; 58 (23): 12320 DOI: 10.1021/jf102811k

Cite This Page:

American Chemical Society. "Shoo, fly! Catnip oil repels bloodsucking flies." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 December 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208125811.htm>.
American Chemical Society. (2010, December 13). Shoo, fly! Catnip oil repels bloodsucking flies. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208125811.htm
American Chemical Society. "Shoo, fly! Catnip oil repels bloodsucking flies." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208125811.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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