Effectiveness of Locally Made Traps for Rodent Control in Soybean Fields

News source: Department of Agriculture, Thailand
For further information, contact Puangtong Boonsong, Agricultural Zoology Group; Crop Protection Research and Development Office, Department of Agriculture, Thailand.
See PDF file for e-mail address., 2002-01-01

Effectiveness of Different Control Methods

Most farmers in Thailand use zinc phosphide and bow traps to control rodents. They also use snare traps and snap traps. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of locally made rodent traps as a component in an integrated rodent control program in soybean fields.

Rat Damage to Soybean

The experiment was conducted in 24 study plots of soybean grown at the end of December 1998 and harvested in March, 1999. The plots were located in Nakhon Sawan Province, Central Thailand, and the area of each plot was about 0.32 ha. The experiment had a CRD design with 8 treatments and 3 replications. The treatments for rodent control were (1) Snap traps; (2) Snare traps; (3) Bow traps; (4) Snap trap + 1% zinc phosphide bait; (5) Snare traps + 1% zinc phosphide bait; (6) Bow traps + 1% zinc phosphide bait, (7) 1% zinc phosphide bait, and (8) No rodent control.

During the cropping season, each treatment was applied three times, each at a different crop stage: the first at land preparation before planting, the second at flowering (40 - 50 days after sowing), and the third when the soybean reached the young pod stage (70 - 80 days after sowing). Before and after each treatment, the populations of rodents were evaluated on the basis of the bait consumption index.

Level of Damage with Different Types of Rat Control

Bait consumption indices before and after treatments during land preparation and at flowering showed that there was no significant difference between the eight treatments at this time. However at the young pod stage, the snare traps + zinc phosphide bait and the bow traps + zinc phosphide bait treatments were significantly more effective than the control plot (no rodent control).

Zinc Phosphide Not Effective before Young Pod Stage

It was shown that a combination of snare traps or bow traps with 1% zinc phosphide bait was the most efficient method of rodent control in soybean fields during the young pod stage. Since the zinc phosphide bait was not effective at earlier stages, its use could be reduced by half (49.53 _ 61.03%).

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