Management of rodent pests of rice fields in upper Brahmaputra valley of Assam

Different management practices using botanical repellent, rodenticide and traps were evaluated in different crop growth stages against field rodents in terms of live burrow count (LBC ha-1), trapping index (TI) as well as per cent cut tillers in both boro and sali rice, respectively. Among different treatments, application of ecodon solution @1 litre burrow-1 at maximum tillering stage and just before panicle initiation stage followed by placement of sherman trap after 10 days of last application was found to be most effective in respect of reduction of live burrow (90.99% and 87.52%), trap index (68.11% and 67.20%) and cut tillers (75.16% and 73.10%) in both boro and sali rice, respectively. The next effective treatment was spraying of ecodon solution (1:50) on bunds at maximum tillering stage and just before panicle initiation stage followed by placement of sherman trap after 10 days of last application with a reduction of 78.32 per cent LBC ha-1, 60.11 per cent trapping index and 69.05 per cent cut tillers in boro rice. The reduction percentage in respect of LBC ha-1, trapping index and per cent cut tillers were 77.44, 58.01 and 67.13, respectively.


Author : RK Borah and D Baglari