Potential Bird Repellents to Reduce Bird Damage to Lettuce Seed and Seedlings

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of ReJeX-iT@ AG-145, Mesurola, activated charcoal, lime, and fipronil to reduce homed lark damage to lettuce seeds and seedlings. In Experiment 1, homed larks consumed significantly more feed mixture (50:50 grains and lettuce seed) than untreated clay-coated lettuce seed in a three-day choice-test. In Experiment 2, where clay-coated lettuce seed was treated with ReJeX-iT@ AG145, Mesurolm, activated charcoal, or lime, there was no significant difference in consumption of untreated clay-coated lettuce seed and treated clay-coated lettuce seed. Homed larks consumed insignificant amounts of all seed treatments including untreated coated lettuce seed. In this experiment homed larks lost an average of 28 % of their body weight over the three-day test period. It was concluded that the clay seed coating alone reduced damage significantly. In the aviary test, flats of sprouting lettuce seedlings were sprayed with Mesurola (4 kgha), ReJeX-iT@ AG-145 (64 kglha), lime (32 kglha), activated charcoal (32 kglha), and fipronil(4 kglha). MesurolB, ReJeX-iT@ AG-145, and lime significantly reduced consumption of lettuce seedlings over a four-day test period. Even though lime significantly reduced consumption, homed larks still consumed over 50% of the available lettuce seedlings. Field evaluations are warranted with Mesurola and ReJeX-iT@ AG-145.