Using some rodent control methods in pomegranate orchards (Punica granatum) at Sohag Governorate - Egypt

Using some rodent control methods in pomegranate orchards (Punica granatum) at Sohag Governorate - Egypt

S. S. Baghdadi ^1,*, A. S. Desoky ²

¹ Agriculture Zoology and Nematology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Egypt

² Plant protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Sohag University, Egypt

*Corresponding author E-mail: saudielkayal11@agricuta.edu.eg  (S. Baghdadi)

ABSTRACT

Rodents are occasional pests of orchard crops throughout the world. The application of rodenticides is an effective and practical method for controlling rodent pests and reducing damage. However, a paucity of information exists on the efficacy of rodenticides in orchards (Pomegranate trees) for these pest species. To address this gap in knowledge, we first identify rodent species. We then used this index to test the efficacy of three rodenticides baits are Racumin 0.0375%, Difenacom 0.005%  "anticoagulant", and  Zinc phosphide 2% "Acute Toxicity"  to determine their utility for controlling rats in agricultural orchards, compared with  one methods  of Mechanical control by "destroying burrows and nests". The results showed that the methods tested, Zinc phosphide 2% grain bait was the most effective option for controlling rodent (Inhibition% = 87.95**), respectively).The use of elevated bait stations proved effective at providing bait to target species and should substantially limit non-target access to rodenticides.

Keywords: Rodents, control, pomegranate orchards, Sohag

INTRODUCTION

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is one of the oldest known cultivated plants (Lye, 2008), known to be native to central Asia (Morton, 1987; Holland et al., 2009). Pomegranate fruit has been traditionally known to beneficial to human health, Pomegranate trees are susceptible to many pests (Kahramanoglu and Usanmaz, 2013)

Rodents cause serious problems to human communities in Africa as a result of their involvement in the spread of diseases (Katakweba et al. 2012) and in the losses of crops through direct consumption (Mulungu et al. 2003; Bekele et al. 2003)

Rodents considered as one the most important pest in Egypt. That caused great economic loss to farmers (damage the growing crops, stored products, poultry and animals farm), (Abdel-Gawad and Farghal, 1982).

Rodenticides are likely to remain the center management tool for controlling rodent damage in agriculture (Buckle, 1999 and Wood and Fee, 2003). Successful management of pomegranate fruit damaging pests is important for the production of marketable fruits. Therefore, this study aimed to determine successful management strategies for the main fruit damaging pests of pomegranates, including rodents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was conducted to control rodents through consumer food baits at pomegranate farm at Sohag district - an area of ​​5 feddans, starting from 28/9/2019-2/11/2019.Three rodenticides and a mechanical control method were evaluated by (destroying burrows and nests) by controlling rodents in pomegranate trees using a food consumer method.

These pesticides are

Racumin 0.0375% (Coumatetralyl) "first-generation anticoagulant" carried on wheat bait

Difenacom (RTAC 0.005%), second-generation anticoagulant, carried on wheat bait

Zinc phosphide 2% (Acute Toxicity) carried on wheat bait

Mechanical control by (destroying burrows and nests)

The bait stations were distributed to the rodenticide in three replications over three weeks. Also, 3 replicates of mechanical control were used during the study period. Data were analyzed according standard procedures for analysis of variance Duncan's (1955) and (Steel and Torrie, 1980).

Inhibition= After treatment/ Before

Inhibition= Before- After/Before*100

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results showed in Table (1) and Figure (1) revealed the survey of three types of rodents. It was also found that the gray-bellied rat is the most common species in the study area, because the gray-bellied rat is considered a household climbing rodent Abdel-Gawad (1974) and 2010) & Desoky and Baghdadi (2020).

Data in Table (2) and Figure (2) The results showed that there were significant differences between different proved that bait of 2% zinc phosphide and other baits using as control methods in study area. 2% zinc phosphide carried on whole wheat has effective control method against rodents in pomegranate orchards, and the use of elevated bait stations was effective in providing bait to target rodents. Difenacoum was the second one with 77.71% as rodent inhibition; the third one was Racumin with 43.70%. While the last treatment is mechanical control with 29.79% in rodent inhibition rate. The use of elevated bait stations should greatly limit access to rodenticides by many non-target species that may have previously been susceptible. Population reduction of rats in date palm and orange trees may be due to the toxic effect of zinc phosphide and the taste of diphacinone. (Khan, 2007) was found to reduce the number of mice by using some rodent compounds such as zinc phosphide and bromadiolone (Desoky, 2013).

The obtained data from Table (2) and Figure (3) revealed that the rodent species is able to consume high baits in the first week of treatment as compared with the other two weeks. This may be due to the death of a number of rodents in the treated area as a result of feeding on the poison baits provided in the previous weeks.

CONCLUSION

High damage caused by rodent was observed in pomegranate orchards cultivated in Sohag Governorate. The rodents attacked Pomegranate fruits, bark and branches from planting till the harvest fruits. The grey billed rat Rattus rattus alexandrines was the most dominant species in study area. Using of zinc phosphide giving high inhibition in rodent species on the study area.  The rodent species is able to consume high baits in the first week of treatment as compared with the other two weeks. The control of rodents depends upon the locality, neighboring and   available food and can be used effectively in an Integrated Pest Management Approach (IPMA) for the regulation of the rodents population density.

REFERENCESS

Abdel-Gawad, K.H. 1974. Ecological and toxicological studies on commensal and household rodents in Assiut area. M.Sc. Thesis, Fac. Agric., Assiut Univ.

Abdel-Gawad, K.H. 2010. Rodent species composition in the present compared with past, the fifth Scientific Conferences for Agric. Assiut Univ. Oct. 16-17, (159-167).

Abdel-Gawad, K.H., Farghal, A.I. 1982: levels of Egypt rodent sensitivity to warfarin. Assiut J. Agric. Sci., 13 (2): 145- 152

Buckle, A.P. 1999: Rodenticides their role pest management in tropical agriculture. In: Singleton, G. R.; Hinds, L. A. and Zhang, Z. (Eds.), Ecologically based Management of Rodent Pests. ACLAR, Canberra, 163-177.

Bekele, A., Leirs, H., Verhagen, R. 2003. Composition of rodents and damage estimates on maize farms at Ziway, Ethiopia. In: Singleton, G. R., Hinds, L. A., Krebs, C. J. and Spratt, D. M. (eds), Rats, Mice and People: Rodent Biology and Management. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra, pp. 262–3.

Desoky, A.S.S. 2013: Evaluation of chemical and mechanical control to reduce active burrows for Arvicanthis niloticus in Sohag Governorate, Egypt. J. of Environmentally friendly processes., 1 (1): 14-18.

Desoky, A.S.S., Saudi A.S.B. 2020:A study of distribution for rodent species in old agricultural and newly cultivated lands in the desert of Sohag Governorate, Egypt. J. Plant Prot. and Path., Mansoura Univ., Vol. 11 (5): 241- 242.

Duncan's, D.B. 1955: Multiple ranged multiple F-test. Biometrics 1:1- 17.

Holland D, Hatip K, Bar-Ya’akov I 2009: Pomegranate: Botany, Horticulture and Breeding. In: Janick J (eds) Horticultural Reviews. John Wiley & Sons Inc, pp. 127-191

Khan, A.A. 2007: Comparative evaluation of two anticoagulant and two acute rodenticides in sugarcane fields. Sarhad, J. Agric., 23 (3).

Katakweba, A.A.S., Mulungu, L.S., Eiseb, S., Mahlaba, T.A., Makundi, R., Massawe, A., Belmain, S.R. 2012: Prevalence of haemoparasite, leptospires and cocobacilli with potential for human infection in the blood of rodents and shrews from selected localities in Tanzania, Namibia and Swaziland. Afr. Zool., 47(1): 119–27.

Kahramanoglu, I., Usanmaz, S. 2013: Management strategies of fruit damaging pests of pomegranates: Planococcus citri, Ceratitis capitata and Deudorix (Virachola) livia. African Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 8(49), pp. 6563-6568

Lye, C. 2008: Pomegranate: preliminary assessment of the potential for an Australian industry. Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation of Australian Government. RIRDC Publication No 08/153, P. 17.

Morton, J. 1987: Pomegranate. In: Fruits of warm climates. Miami, FL. pp. 352–355

Mulungu, L.S., Makundi, R.H., Leirs, H., Massawe, A.W., Vibe-Petersen, S., Stenseth, N.C. 2003: The rodent density–damage function in maize fields at an early growth stage, In: Singleton, G. R., Hinds, L. A., Krebs, C. J. and Spratt, D. M. Rats, Mice and People: Rodent Biology and Management (ed.), Australia Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra, Australia, pp. 301–3.

Steel, R.D.D., Torrie, J.D. 1980: Principle and procedures of statistics. Mcgrow-Hill Book, Co., New York, 481pp.

Wood, B.J., Fee, C.G. 2003: A critical review of the development of rat control in Malaysian agriculture since the 1960s. Crop Prot., 22: 445-46.

Table1: Incidence of rodents recorded in pomegranate orchards at Sohag Governorate, during 2019.

Table 2: Effect of using various control methods against rodent species at Pomegranate orchards at Sohag Governorate, during 2019.

Figure 1: Incidence of rodents recorded in pomegranate orchards at Sohag Governorate, during 2019.

Figure 2: Effect of using various control methods against rodent species at Pomegranate orchards at Sohag Governorate, during 2019

Figure 3: Effect of weekly bait consumption of various rodenticides species under Field conditions.