COMPARATIVE ACCEPTABILITY OF 3 ACUTE RODENTICIDES - A MULTIPLE-CHOICETEST AGAINST MERIONES-HURRIANAE JERDON

Multiple choice study was conducted with three acute rodenticides viz. vacor (RH-787), calciferol (Vit. D2) and cholecalciferol (Vit. D3) ag ainst Indian desert gerbil Meriones hurrianae Jerdon to test their com parative acceptability. The vacor was observed to be the most palatabl e with a mean consumption of 3.73 g/ 100 g body weight which was found to be highly significant (P < 0.001) in comparison to cholecalciferol and calciferol with a mean consumption of 2.32 g/ 100 g b.wt. and 1.6 3 g/ 100 g b.wt. respectively. Male gerbils were more susceptible than females to rodenticide poisoning. It can be inferred from this invest igation that vacor and cholecalciferol can be used as single dose rode nticides in rodent control operations.