Oviposition and development of face flies in dung from cattle on herbage and supplemented herbage diets

Dung was collected from Angus cattle (Bos taurus L.) fed (ad libitum) hays of endophyte-free (EF) and endophyte (Acremonium coenophialum Morgan-Jones and Gams) infected (EI) tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), and alfalfa-smooth bromegrass (1:1 w/w) and green-chopped Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.). Samples of dung were subsequently collected from the same animals offered the same herbage diets supplemented each day with ground maize (Zea mays L.) kernels at 0.35 kg per body weight. Dung from both sources were used in bioassays to establish oviposition preferences of face flies (Musca autumnalis De Geer). When offered dung from herbage diets, face flies deposited 38.3% of their eggs on dung derived from EF tall fescue diets, 9.9% on dung from EI tall fescue diets, 21.0% on dung from alfalfa diets, 7.4% on dung from red clover diets and 22.8% on dung from alfalfa-bromegrass diets. Face flies avoided ovipositing in dung from cattle ingesting bromegrass hay and Kentucky bluegrass green-chop. Supplements increased oviposition preference of face flies for dung from cattle ingesting Kentucky bluegrass greenchop to 19.1% at the expense of oviposition on dung from cattle ingesting alfalfa hay diets (4.5%), otherwise, they had little effect on oviposition preference ranking. Growth and development of first instar larvae of face flies was also measured in bioassays of dung from cattle on herbage and supplemented herbage diets. The presence of endophyte reduced pupation in dung from cattle on tall fescue hay diets from 86.3 to 79.8% and from 90.1 to 73.2% in dung from cattle on supplemented tall fescue hay diets. Pupal liveweights averaged 27.5 mg on dung from cattle on EF tall fescue diets, 22.1 mg from dung of cattle on EI tall fescue diets, 22.2 mg from dung of cattle on supplemented EF tall fescue diets and 24.0 mg from dung of cattle on supplemented EI tall fescue diets. Eclosion and the sex ratio of adults were not affected by dung from cattle on different source diets.