Rearing media were selected for the production of sterile larvae of greenbottle blowfly, Phaenicia (=Lucilia) sericata (Meigen) which is widely used in maggot therapy. Eight media available in the market were used in this study. Egg hatchability was not different among the media. Survivorship of the larvae was higher in blood agar (BA), sabouraud dextrose agar, and brucella blood agar than the others. A higher content (20~40%) of sheep blood in BA and chocolate agar increased the survivorship of larvae. The eggs and the early 3rd larvae could be stored for 12 days at 8℃ and for 15 days at 6℃ without decrease in hatchability and larval survivorship, respectively.

A possible rapid biodegradation of abandoned livestock was tested by using the dead pig and chicken. The dead pig (36 ㎏) was completely decomposed after 23 days of placement in the open field during June 2007. When the door of a cage in which a dead chicken (3.4 ㎏) was placed was opened, a lot of flies were attracted to the chicken and layed eggs on the chicken. As the result the chicken was decomposed down to 0.6 ㎏ after 6 days of placement in the open field, On the other hand when the door was closed, the decomposition was very slow. The chicken weighed 3.0 ㎏ even after 6 days. An experiment conducted during October 2007 showed that decomposition speed depended on the number of inoculated flies. When 50 pairs of Lucilia sericata flies were inoculated to 3.2 ㎏ chicken, it was decomposed down to 1.0 ㎏ after 22 days in the field. However, when 200 female and 100 male flies were inoculated, the 3.4 ㎏ chicken was decomposed to 0.8 ㎏ after 11 days in the field. A 10,858 pupae (371.2 g) was produced from the latter chicken. These pupae may possibly be used as a feed for fish and fowl. From these results it is considered that further research is needed to commercialize the blow flies for the rapid decomposition of an abandoned livestock of diverse size under diverse environment.

Maggot therapy (MT) has been re-introduced for non-healing wounds such as pressure sore, diabetic and necrotic ulcers, as well as infected surgical wounds, burn, and trauma injuries since early 1990s. For the production of sterile maggot of proper developmental stage, Lucilia sericata were studied on developmental periods of immature stages on liver agar medium under six different temperatures such as 15.4, 20.6, 22.5, 26.2, 29.1, and 33.0℃, and adult longevity and egg production under 29℃. The periods of eggs and larvae of the I st and the 2nd instars were shortest at 33℃ by 9.0, 14.0 and 18.6 hours, respectively. The periods of the 3rd instar larvae and pupae were shortest at 29.1℃ by 285.0 and 171.0 hours, respectively. Developmental zero point and total effective temperature for the development of each stage were calculated based on the developmental periods. Adults of both female and male lived more than one month. Females laid an average of 338.5 eggs through 2.7 times of egg laying throughout her lifetime.