An appraisal of pre-harvest rodent damage in major crops of north-eastern Himalaya, India

Abstract

Pre-harvest crop damage caused by rodents was assessed during bamboo flowering phase (2005–2007) in two major states of north-eastern Himalaya. In Meghalaya, rodent damage in upland paddy, lowland paddy, maize, pine apple and groundnut was found to be 14.33, 16.31, 13.69, 17.36 and 16.02%, respectively. Relatively higher damage was recorded in Mizoram, where jhum rice and maize losses were 42.7–46% and 23.41–47.65%, respectively. In other crops, rodent injuries on oil palm were more severe (up to 75%) in many locations. Moreover, damage was observed to be variable in two states and also in different districts of the Mizoram. Furthermore, rodents were found to produce more damage at the maturity stage of crops; therefore, accordingly their management strategies could be manipulated during outbreak period.