Abstract
Commensal rodents are serious pests of household food storage items and cause
significant losses to the farming community in many parts of the world including
Pakistan. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of damage caused by the
commensal rodents in various types of household structures in rural Pothwar. Losses
were calculated on the bases of average population of rodents per structure, amount of
cereals consumption by rodents and the average amount of food, a rat consumes in a
day. Regression of daily captures on cumulative captures suggested a population of
1,060 rodents (3.02 per structure) from 350 structures (houses, shops and farm houses)
of 12 sampled villages of Pothwar. Results on the grain losses caused by commensal
rodents reflected that 9700.24 kg of wheat and other cereals were annually lost due to
rodent’s consumption, from all the sampled structures, from an average village of
Pothwar. In addition, sufficient amount of food items were contaminated by the rodent
urine and / or feces and thus are unavailable for human use and may cause health issues.
Muhammad Mushtaq, Surrya Khanam. (2017) Grain losses caused by the commensal rodents in rural Pothwar, Pakistan, Asian Journal of Agriculture and Biology, Volume 5, Issue 4.
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