author(s)
N Sathiyamoorthy, K Senthilvel, N Rani, K Ramya and G Ponnudurai

abstract
Fifty commercial poultry farms from different blocks of Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu, India were selected and insecticide usage pattern was surveyed by questionnaire method. The system of management followed was narrow caged poultry house in ten farms and the remaining was high rised poultry house system. Farm capacity ranged from six thousand to two lakhs birds with different age groups were maintained. The incidence of fly problem was higher during the month of March and April followed by September and October in every year in Namakkal region, which usually coincided with the onset of fruiting season and north east monsoon respectively. Disposal of manure was carried out in farms as and when the market price for manure was high and in most of the farms, the manure removal being made 2 to 3 times in a year. Out of fifty farms surveyed, insect growth regulator-cyromazine was used as larvicide in 41 farms, dichlorvos in 18 farms, malathion in 2 farms, cypermethrin in 17 farms, deltamethrin in 4 farms, neonicotinoids in 2 farms and larvend (herbal preparation) in 7 farms as single or mixed treatment. The method of application of insecticides also varied from farm to farm. The insecticides viz., dichlorvos, cypermethrin and cyromazine (IGR) were used for control of house flies in the caged layer houses. Some of the farmer, had experienced control failure in their farms when dichlorvos, cypermethrin and deltamethrin used during fly control programme, which warrants the bioassay studies of flies to assess the insecticide resistance, if any in this poultry region.