Temporal fluctuations of insecticides resistance in Musca domestica Linn (Diptera: Muscidae) in Malaysia

House flies were collected from April 2007-April 2008 from two poultry farms (Balik Pulau and Juru) in the state of Penang. The resistance level of the first generation offspring was evaluated against DDT, malathion, propoxur, and permethrin using the topical application method. The resistance ratio (RR) of the Balik Pulau strain house flies for propoxur, malathion and DDT ranged from 10.28 to 99.00, 7.83 to 47.01 and 6.05 to 31.10, respectively. Resistance to propoxur and malathion in house fly was attributed to cross resistance to organophosphate insecticides used in the farm. Increased metabolic detoxification might be the mechanism involved in DDT resistance due to excessive application of cypermethrin formulation. The RR of the Juru strain for propoxur, malathion and DDT was in a decreasing pattern throughout the study period, ranging from 5.58 to 83.38, 15.19 to 27.82, and 10.04 to 22.69, respectively. Permethrin appeared to be the most potent insecticide in controlling house fly in both the Balik Pulau (RR = 0.50 to 1.96) and Juru poultry farms (RR = 0.64 to 2.40). The fluctuations of insecticides resistance in house fly was also found to correlate with climatic factors due to its rapid breeding. Relative humidity exhibited positive correlation indices with the changes in the resistance level for DDT (r = 0.481, p < 0.05), malathion (r = 0.698, p < 0.01), and permethrin (r = 0.580, p < 0.05) in Balik Pulau. Similarly, relative humidity in Juru also showed strong correlation with the RR for DDT (r = 0.900, p < 0.01), malathion (r = 0.762, p < 0.05), permethrin (r = 0.760, p < 0.05), and propoxur (r = 0.897, p < 0.01).