Three Times the Charm

Very soon, pest management professionals will have a powerful tool for cockroach control: Advion® Trio cockroach gel bait.

It is the only cockroach gel bait to combine three active ingredients with three different modes of action in a highly attractive bait matrix.

“The combination of the three active ingredients in a single cockroach gel bait is something unique to the market. It offers a lethal combination to combat large-scale infestations or difficult-to-control cockroach populations,” says Chris Keefer, technical services manager for Professional Pest Management (PPM) at Syngenta, North America.

Advion Trio contains:

1. Indoxacarb. After being ingested, the indoxacarb compound is broken down by enzymes found only in target insects, exposing a toxic metabolite that attacks the insect’s nervous system. This process, called the MetaActive™ effect, leaves non-target organisms largely unaffected.

2. Pyriproxyfen. An insect growth regulator (IGR) widely used in the pest control industry, pyriproxyfen mimics an insect juvenile growth hormone.

“It keeps an immature insect in the immature stage. If you disrupt that hormonal balance, you disrupt the insect’s development,” explains Bob Cartwright, product development manager for PPM at Syngenta, North America.

3. Novaluron. This second IGR inhibits the synthesis of chitin, a key component of insect exoskeletons. It prevents a nymph cockroach from properly molting during any of its five instar or immature stages, which means very young nymphs are affected. Pyriproxyfen, by comparison, targets the last stage of immature cockroach development.

“Having both IGRs in there really provides a complementary effect,” says Cartwright.

Advion Trio is the only cockroach gel bait to contain novaluron. It also shares the same advanced, highly attractive bait matrix as Advion Evolution cockroach gel bait.

Crashing Nymph Populations.

Studies conducted by Syngenta and university researchers across the county show the effectiveness of Advion Trio. It has achieved 100% mortality of cockroach populations within 48 hours, reports Keefer.¹

Because Advion Trio is slow acting, adult cockroaches have time to feed on it and return to harborages before severe intoxication occurs. “That’s where you get the horizontal transfer of all three active ingredients across an entire population,” he explains. Transfer takes place when cockroaches feed on the feces, vomit or carcasses of other cockroaches that consumed the bait. Horizontal transfer is especially important for controlling nymphs and gravid females, which tend to stay in their harborage areas where they feed on the bodily fluids of adults.

Even when consumed at lower doses through transfer, the IGRs are highly effective. In fact, a 2020 study by North Carolina State University found that one day of feeding on 0.1% novaluron was sufficient to disrupt molting in nymphs and prevent adult females from developing viable oothecae, or egg cases.¹

So even if nymphs ingest a sub-lethal dose of indoxacarb, they’ll still die from a lower dose of the IGR.

This is important since nymphs typically account for 80% of an established German cockroach population, says Keefer. When the nymph population decreases at a faster rate, you’re less likely to see the cockroach population rebound.

“If you don’t get rid of all of the nymphs, eventually the population will come back,” reminds Cartwright.

This gel bait also gives PMPs another product to rotate to reduce insecticide resistance, which is increasing in some cockroach populations. “It works faster, and it works in a different way, so you have a built-in resistance management program in one bait,” says Cartwright.

A New Tool for Challenging Infestations.

Because of its ability to quickly suppress adult and nymph cockroaches, Advion Trio will be a good choice for difficult infestations.

“If you’re in a commercial setting where you have an endemic problem with cockroaches, this will bring the population down. If you’re in a housing situation where the cockroach populations are high, it really can make a difference,” says Cartwright.

Keefer agrees: “I think Advion Trio is really going to devastate those types of German cockroach populations and help get 100% control quickly. PMPs are going to sleep better at night as a result.”

It has taken four years to bring this gel bait formulation to market. “It’s a major victory for the end users in the market any time we bring something unique to the table,” says Keefer.

Each year, Syngenta spends more than $1 billion globally on research and development. More than 5,000 of its 27,000 employees worldwide are dedicated to this task.

Learn more about Advion Trio at SyngentaPMP.com/AdvionTrio.

¹North Carolina State University, PPMU21831

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