Determining the effectiveness of zinc phosphide rodenticide bait in the presence of alternative food supply

This investment is focussed on providing growers and the broader Australian grains industry practical advice to improve the effectiveness of the rodenticide bait, zinc phosphide. Zinc phosphide rodenticide baits have been registered for use in crop fields to manage the threat of mouse damage to crops. It is the only rodenticide registered for use in-crop. This investment is designed to better understand the role of alternative food on bait uptake and efficacy of the poison baits and to explore whether alternative bait substrates might improve bait uptake and efficacy. Anecdotal reports suggest that when there is abundant alternative food present, mice do not take the baits and it is therefore not effective. Furthermore, growers and others in the grains industry have been suggesting alternatives to wheat as the carrier for the bait (for example, barley, malted barley, high protein wheat, icing sugar, lupins), essentially to provide a more attractive bait for mice, depending on background food types (for eample, barley, wheat or lupin stubbles); mice might have a different food preference. Understanding the role that alternative food plays will help inform the conditions required to reach maximum efficacy.