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Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Farta district, south Gondar from 2019 to 2020 cropping years to identify rodent pest species and estimate damage caused on barley crops. Four independent barley crop fields (40 x 40 m each) were sampled randomly to estimate the loss. Two were located near Alemsaga Priori...

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Autores principales: Wondifraw, Bewketu Takele, Tamene, Mesele Yihune, Simegn, Afework Bekele
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8360600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34383810
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255372
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author Wondifraw, Bewketu Takele
Tamene, Mesele Yihune
Simegn, Afework Bekele
author_facet Wondifraw, Bewketu Takele
Tamene, Mesele Yihune
Simegn, Afework Bekele
author_sort Wondifraw, Bewketu Takele
collection PubMed
description This study was conducted in Farta district, south Gondar from 2019 to 2020 cropping years to identify rodent pest species and estimate damage caused on barley crops. Four independent barley crop fields (40 x 40 m each) were sampled randomly to estimate the loss. Two were located near Alemsaga Priority State Forest and the other two were away from the forest. Four (2 x 2 m) rodent exclusion plots were established at 10 m interval as control units in each selected experimental barley fields using fine wire mesh. Rodent pest species were collected using both Sherman and snap traps throughout the different crop growing stages. The damaged and undamaged barley tillers by pest rodents were counted on five 1 x 1 m randomly sampled quadrats for each selected experimental fields. Variations on pest rodent population between cropping years and sites were analyzed using Chi square test. The mean crop damages between cropping years and experimental field sites were analyzed using two way ANOVA. Arvicanthis abyssinicus, Mastomys natalensis, Arvicanthis dembeensis, Mus musculus, Lophuromys simensis, Tachyoryctes splendens and Hystrix cristata were identified as pest rodents in the study area. A total of 968 individual rodents (427 in 2019 and 541 in 2020) were trapped during the study period. There was a statistical variation (χ(2) = 13.42, df = 1 and P<0.05) between trapped individuals of the two successive years. The crop fields near the forest were more vulnerable than away from the forest during both cropping years. Statistical variations was observed on mean crop losses between cropping years and experimental barley crop sites. The highest crop damage was seen at maturity stage and the lowest during sowing in all experimental plots and cropping years. The percentage of barley yield loss due to rodent pests was 21.7 kg ha(-1). The monetary value of this yield loss was equivalent to 4875 Birr (121.9 US$ h(-1)). Alemsaga Forest as shelter and conservation strategies like free of farmland from livestock and terracing for soil conservation have great role for the high rodent pest populations in the study area. Field sanitation, trapping and using restricted rodenticides like zinc phosphide are the possible recommendation to local farmers against rodent pests.
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spelling pubmed-83606002021-08-13 Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia Wondifraw, Bewketu Takele Tamene, Mesele Yihune Simegn, Afework Bekele PLoS One Research Article This study was conducted in Farta district, south Gondar from 2019 to 2020 cropping years to identify rodent pest species and estimate damage caused on barley crops. Four independent barley crop fields (40 x 40 m each) were sampled randomly to estimate the loss. Two were located near Alemsaga Priority State Forest and the other two were away from the forest. Four (2 x 2 m) rodent exclusion plots were established at 10 m interval as control units in each selected experimental barley fields using fine wire mesh. Rodent pest species were collected using both Sherman and snap traps throughout the different crop growing stages. The damaged and undamaged barley tillers by pest rodents were counted on five 1 x 1 m randomly sampled quadrats for each selected experimental fields. Variations on pest rodent population between cropping years and sites were analyzed using Chi square test. The mean crop damages between cropping years and experimental field sites were analyzed using two way ANOVA. Arvicanthis abyssinicus, Mastomys natalensis, Arvicanthis dembeensis, Mus musculus, Lophuromys simensis, Tachyoryctes splendens and Hystrix cristata were identified as pest rodents in the study area. A total of 968 individual rodents (427 in 2019 and 541 in 2020) were trapped during the study period. There was a statistical variation (χ(2) = 13.42, df = 1 and P<0.05) between trapped individuals of the two successive years. The crop fields near the forest were more vulnerable than away from the forest during both cropping years. Statistical variations was observed on mean crop losses between cropping years and experimental barley crop sites. The highest crop damage was seen at maturity stage and the lowest during sowing in all experimental plots and cropping years. The percentage of barley yield loss due to rodent pests was 21.7 kg ha(-1). The monetary value of this yield loss was equivalent to 4875 Birr (121.9 US$ h(-1)). Alemsaga Forest as shelter and conservation strategies like free of farmland from livestock and terracing for soil conservation have great role for the high rodent pest populations in the study area. Field sanitation, trapping and using restricted rodenticides like zinc phosphide are the possible recommendation to local farmers against rodent pests. Public Library of Science 2021-08-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8360600/ /pubmed/34383810 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255372 Text en © 2021 Wondifraw et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wondifraw, Bewketu Takele
Tamene, Mesele Yihune
Simegn, Afework Bekele
Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia
title Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia
title_full Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia
title_fullStr Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia
title_short Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia
title_sort assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in farta district, south gondar, ethiopia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8360600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34383810
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255372
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