Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards
The Black rat (Rattus rattus), a serious pest of Australian macadamia orchards has been estimated to cause up to 30% crop damage in Australian orchards. In recent years an increase in the number of commercially available cultivars has seen a change in orchard characteristics in Australia, primarily...
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ftqueensland:oai:eprints.qut.edu.au:51462 2024-02-04T10:04:09+01:00 Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards Eldridge, Jim Whitehouse, Matthew Elmouttie, David Hamilton, Grant 2012 https://eprints.qut.edu.au/51462/ unknown Southern Cross Publishing and Printing Pty Ltd http://www.cropj.com/eldridge_6_6_2012_1110_1115.pdf Eldridge, Jim, Whitehouse, Matthew, Elmouttie, David, & Hamilton, Grant (2012) Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards. Australian Journal of Crop Science, 6(6), pp. 1110-1115. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/51462/ Science & Engineering Faculty; School of Earth, Environmental & Biological Sciences Consult author(s) regarding copyright matters This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the document is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. If you believe that this work infringes copyright please provide details by email to qut.copyright@qut.edu.au Australian Journal of Crop Science Rattus rattus crop damage cultivar macadamia rodent Contribution to Journal 2012 ftqueensland 2024-01-08T23:29:21Z The Black rat (Rattus rattus), a serious pest of Australian macadamia orchards has been estimated to cause up to 30% crop damage in Australian orchards. In recent years an increase in the number of commercially available cultivars has seen a change in orchard characteristics in Australia, primarily effecting fruiting and flowering patterns. This has been suggested to affect the feeding behaviour of rodents and in turn altered the damage process. In this study we compare the extent of damage in orchards containing one of three prevalent cultivars (A4/A16, A268 and HAES 344/741) and investigate the influence of these cultivars, particularly their distinctive fruiting traits, on rodent damage within the orchard. We demonstrate that the temporal pattern and extent of damage differs between cultivar types. Newer Australian macadamia cultivars tested in this study were found to be far more susceptible to rodent damage than the older Hawaiian developed cultivars, most likely due to an extended fruiting period and thinner shells. This has resulted in a more sustained period of crop damage than the patterns of crop damage observed in previous Australian studies. Crop damage caused by R. rattus is significantly higher in orchards that maintain high levels of canopy resources through the fruiting season and we postulate that this is due to the extended fruiting periods of the new cultivars used. The maintenance of canopy resource load in turn corresponds to high crop damage, in this study resulting in crop losses of up to 25%. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus Queensland University of Technology: QUT ePrints |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Queensland University of Technology: QUT ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftqueensland |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Rattus rattus crop damage cultivar macadamia rodent |
spellingShingle |
Rattus rattus crop damage cultivar macadamia rodent Eldridge, Jim Whitehouse, Matthew Elmouttie, David Hamilton, Grant Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards |
topic_facet |
Rattus rattus crop damage cultivar macadamia rodent |
description |
The Black rat (Rattus rattus), a serious pest of Australian macadamia orchards has been estimated to cause up to 30% crop damage in Australian orchards. In recent years an increase in the number of commercially available cultivars has seen a change in orchard characteristics in Australia, primarily effecting fruiting and flowering patterns. This has been suggested to affect the feeding behaviour of rodents and in turn altered the damage process. In this study we compare the extent of damage in orchards containing one of three prevalent cultivars (A4/A16, A268 and HAES 344/741) and investigate the influence of these cultivars, particularly their distinctive fruiting traits, on rodent damage within the orchard. We demonstrate that the temporal pattern and extent of damage differs between cultivar types. Newer Australian macadamia cultivars tested in this study were found to be far more susceptible to rodent damage than the older Hawaiian developed cultivars, most likely due to an extended fruiting period and thinner shells. This has resulted in a more sustained period of crop damage than the patterns of crop damage observed in previous Australian studies. Crop damage caused by R. rattus is significantly higher in orchards that maintain high levels of canopy resources through the fruiting season and we postulate that this is due to the extended fruiting periods of the new cultivars used. The maintenance of canopy resource load in turn corresponds to high crop damage, in this study resulting in crop losses of up to 25%. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Eldridge, Jim Whitehouse, Matthew Elmouttie, David Hamilton, Grant |
author_facet |
Eldridge, Jim Whitehouse, Matthew Elmouttie, David Hamilton, Grant |
author_sort |
Eldridge, Jim |
title |
Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards |
title_short |
Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards |
title_full |
Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards |
title_fullStr |
Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards |
title_sort |
effects of cultivar on rodent damage in australian macadamia orchards |
publisher |
Southern Cross Publishing and Printing Pty Ltd |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/51462/ |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Australian Journal of Crop Science |
op_relation |
http://www.cropj.com/eldridge_6_6_2012_1110_1115.pdf Eldridge, Jim, Whitehouse, Matthew, Elmouttie, David, & Hamilton, Grant (2012) Effects of cultivar on rodent damage in Australian macadamia orchards. Australian Journal of Crop Science, 6(6), pp. 1110-1115. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/51462/ Science & Engineering Faculty; School of Earth, Environmental & Biological Sciences |
op_rights |
Consult author(s) regarding copyright matters This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the document is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. If you believe that this work infringes copyright please provide details by email to qut.copyright@qut.edu.au |
_version_ |
1789972176057663488 |