Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for

 

Date of this Version

10-1983

Citation

Proceedings Ninth Bird Control Seminar, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, October 4-6, 1983. Ed. William B. Jackson and Beth Jackson Dodd

Comments

Copyright © 1983 Michael R. Conover

Abstract

This study compared the effectiveness of two carbamate repellents, trimethacarb and methiocarb, in preventing bird damage to blueberry fields by establishing in birds a conditioned taste aversion to treated berries. These experiments were conducted during 1982 and 1983 at the Lockwood Farm in Hamden, Connecticut, where these repellents were tested on a 0.05 ha blueberry planting and at Rose's Berry Farm in Glastonbury, Connecticut, where five 0.4-1.0 ha fields were used. To test the efficacy of these repellents, the plot at the Station's farm was divided in half; and the plots at Rose's Berry Farm were divided into thirds. Bird damage in each of these sections was first measured during a one-week pre-treatment period. Thereafter, one of the sections in each field was randomly selected and treated with one of the repellents. Two weeks later, another section in each field was sprayed with the other repellent. Bird damage in the treated sections and in the nearby untreated sections was compared to that occurring in these same sections during the pre·treatment period, using a Student's t·test for statistically significant (P < 0.05) differences. My results indicated that methiocarb and trimethacarb significantly reduced berry loss in the treated plots by 25% and 52%, respectively, during the first week after application. The difference in repellent effectiveness, however, was not statistically significant. Moreover, neither repellent significantly reduced berry loss in adjacent untreated plots. These results indicate that both repellents caused birds to avert only from treated berries and not from the taste or sight of blueberries themselves.

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