The extent of biological control of rats with Barn Owls, Tyto alba javanica in Malaysian oil palm plantations.
In 1989, PORIM in collaboration with the industry, completed a three-year study which concluded that the bran owls have potential in the biological control of rats in oil palm plantations. To determine the extent of adoption of this biological approach in rat control, a nationwide survey was made by PORIM in 1993/1994, the results of which are reported in this paper. A total of 2.412 estates responded to the survey questionaires, of which 188 indicated erecting next boxes which facilitated the immigration of barn owls. A smaller proportion (21.8%) introduced barn owls into their estates. The majority believed that owls were effective in controlling the rat population as revealed by a decline in rat numbers and rat demage to oil palm bunches. There is a g reat awareness of not using secondary generation rodenticides which are extremely toxic to owls. An integrated approach of rat control is therefore being practised. Barn owls are currently widely distributed in virtually all the states in Peninsular Malaysia. However, their estimated coverage was only 15.4 per cent in the Peninsular and 2.0 per cent of the combined oil palm areas in Sabah and Sarawak. Thus, the potentital of expanding the distribution of owls in enormous, particularly in the latter region.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | En |
| Subjects: | Control biológico, Control de roedores., lechuza de granero, Rodenticidas., Tyto alba, Palma de aceite, Barn owl, |
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