Comparative efficacy of four rodenticides on the Ghanaian market

Abstract

Due to the enormous damage that rodents cause to agricultural produce, merchandise and hu-man health all over the world, large sums of money is often spent on rodenticides in order to control rodent populations. A number of rodenticides exist on the Ghanaian market on which there is limited scientific data on their efficacy and use. This study investigated the efficacy of four rodenticides namely Storm (flocoumafen at 0.005% w/w), Baraki (difethialone at 0.0025% w/w), Chinaman (diphacinone at 0.005% w/w) and Zinc Phosphide on the Ghanaian market, on white laboratory rats (Rattus novigicus). The results indicated that product acceptability by the rats within 24 hours was significantly higher for Storm (20.6�1.3g) and Baraki (17.8�5.5g) as compared to Chinaman (5.4�0.3g) and Zinc Phosphide (3.2�1.7g) (ANOVA, p < 0.05). Con-sumption of Storm, Baraki and Zinc Phophide produced lethal effects with mean time of death ranging from 4.0�1, 3.8�1 to 1.0 days respectively indicating that Baraki and Storm exhibited delayed lethal effects. Although product acceptability for Zinc Phosphide was low, the amount needed to produce lethal effects in white laboratory rats was small and appeared to have been consumed over a single encounter. The study provides baseline data for further investigations and field trials.