CEFE, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France.
Instituto de Ecología, A.C., INECOL. Red de Ecoetología, Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa91070, Veracruz, México.
Parasitology. 2020 Feb;147(2):171-181. doi: 10.1017/S0031182019001379. Epub 2019 Oct 15.
The poultry red mite (PRM) is an obligatory haematophagous pest that causes substantial economic losses in poultry worldwide. The PRM does not live on the host but in the bird's environment and must find its host remotely. Hence, manipulating chicken odours is of interest. Several crude plant-originating volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have already been shown as repellent to Dermanyssus gallinae. We aimed to test whether these VOCs can interfere with PRM host-seeking behaviour by their oral administration to the poultry. The objectives were to determine (1) if hen odours are modified by supplemented feed ingestion and (2) if such treatment makes hens less attractive to the PRM. Chemical characterization by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of the hen odour was conducted before and after the hens ingested the supplemented feed. The chromatograms obtained show that hen odour was substantially modified after the hens consumed it. Among the molecules recurrently detected from the supplemented hens, 26% were nearly absent in the unsupplemented hens. Behavioural choice tests to compare the effect of the modified and unmodified-host odours on the PRM show that some of the plant-originating emitted VOCs and the modified whole-hen odours were repellent to the PRM.
家禽红螨（PRM）是一种专性吸血害虫，在全球范围内给家禽业造成了巨大的经济损失。PRM 并不寄生在宿主身上，而是生活在鸟类的环境中，必须远程寻找宿主。因此，操纵鸡的气味引起了人们的兴趣。已经有几种粗制的植物源挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）被证明对鸡皮螨具有驱避作用。我们旨在通过给家禽口服这些 VOCs，测试它们是否会干扰 PRM 的宿主寻找行为。目的是确定（1）母鸡的气味是否会因补充饲料的摄入而发生改变，以及（2）这种处理是否会使母鸡对 PRM 的吸引力降低。在母鸡摄入补充饲料前后，通过气相色谱-质谱法对母鸡的气味进行了化学特征分析。获得的色谱图显示，母鸡在食用后气味发生了很大变化。在从补充饲料母鸡中反复检测到的分子中，有 26%在未补充饲料的母鸡中几乎不存在。比较改性和未改性宿主气味对 PRM 影响的行为选择测试表明，一些植物源排放的 VOC 和改性的整鸡气味对 PRM 具有驱避作用。
