EVALUATION OF TASTE REPELLENTS WITH NORTHERN BOBWHITES FOR DETERRING INGESTION OF GRANULAR PESTICIDES

The risk of accidental poisoning of birds may be reduced by adding an aversive-tasting chemical to granular pesticides. The efficacy of eigh t taste repellents in deterring consumption was therefore evaluated in a game species, the northern bobwhite (Colinus virgininnus). Avoidanc e was measured using a two-cup preference test in which treated feeds were paired with untreated feeds in one experiment, and against other treated feeds in another experiment. All repellents tested were signif icantly avoided without evidence of habituation during the 5-d test pe riod. The most effective repellents were d-pulegone and quinine hydroc hloride. Methyl anthranilate, 2-heptanone, and lithium chloride also p erformed reasonably well, whereas sucrose octaacetate and cinnamaldehy de performed relatively poorly. The d-pulegone was further evaluated u sing a one-cup test with treated day granules. The effects of adding d -pulegone and/or a red dye (erythrosine) were evaluated with a two-way factorial design. Addition of d-pulegone strongly reduced consumption of granules (p < 0.001), whereas addition of erythrosine had no signi ficant effect when added alone or in combination with d-pulegone. Our results indicate that treating pesticide granules with a potent taste repellent, such as d-pulegone, is a promising approach to reduce the r isk of their ingestion by birds.