Food preferences of the common vole Microtus arvalis in the agricultural landscape with regard to nutritional components of plants

At high population densities the common vole Microtus arvalis may cause sev ere damage to agricultural crops. Knowledge of its food preferences could b e used to promote preferred plants in agricultural compensation areas such as fallow fields or weedy borders to crop fields. Thus migration into adjac ent fields may be prevented. Since such migrations are more likely to occur in winter, laboratory feeding choice tests were carried out during this se ason in order to investigate the food choices of the common vole. Feeding s igns in the field served for qualitative comparisons. Plant nutritional com ponents (nitrogen, sugar, starch, and phenolics) as well as energy and wate r content were analyzed and related to plant preferences Clear preferences emerged from the choice trials. The most preferred plants were Hordeum vulg are (leaves), Brassica napus (leaves) and Beta vulgaris altissima (roots) a mong cultivated plants, and Achillea millefolium (leaves) and Trifolium pra tense (leaves) among weed strip plants. There was no relationship between p references and the analyzed nutritional parameters From the 5 most attracti ve plants in laboratory tests, feeding signs in the field were observed at high frequency only for T. pratense and B. napus. T. pratense may therefore be suitable for pr@venring migrations of M. arvalis from bordering areas i nto rape fields.