Field studies were done to elucidate the effectiveness of buffalo urine as a tsetse attractant under a variety of test conditions. When traps were baited with the test sample of urine placed in large-necked dispensers allowing evaporation of 2 to 2.9 ml/hr, they performed better than traps baited with similar samples placed in narrow-necked dispensers with evaporation rate of 0.2 to 0.4 ml/hr. Buffalo urine was compared with samples of cow urine: the catch size increased 1.8 times in traps with cow urine when compared to that of the control trap, whereas buffalo urine was 9.6 times more attractive than control. Acetone added to the test sample, even in very small quantity, boosted the effectiveness, increasing the catch size 2.8 times more. Urine samples that had stayed on the laboratory shelves for some weeks or months were more effective than freshly obtained ones.
