Abstract
A total of 6300 trappings in the wheal-sugarcane-fodder canal irrigated farm-land, resulted the trap success of 4.9% in cotton, 6.5% in fodders, 5.0% in the sug-arcane, 4.8% in vegetable crops and 3.1% in the wheat.
INTRODUCTION
The house mouse (Mus nu scutus) is a significant murid pest of the agricultural crops in Pakistan and is more abundant in the Punjab. In addition, it also infests human dwellings along with the foodstuffs. Rodenticides and pesticides, although prove to be the effective weapons for the control of these rodent pests, their unwise and non-selective use is always a threat to the non-target species and may disrupt the agro-ecosystems. The main objective of the present study was, therefore, to infer the abundance and the seasonal variations of house mouse in different agricultural crops.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Studies on the seasonal variations and distribution of house mouse were extended from August 1988 through June 1989 in a canal irrigated farmland near village 61 J.B., about 15 kilometers away from the Faisalabad. Crops and ecosystem, in which the study was performed, consisted of cot-ton, fodders (leguminoid and graminoid), sugarcane, vegetables and wheat. Study area was divided into four blocks (1, 2, 3 and 4). Each block consisted of 25 acres of the cropland. Every month, eight
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acres were chosen for the sampling of house mouse (Mus inusculus) by random sampling. From October onwards, two more blocks, 5 and 6 were added to the earlier four blocks. Each selected acre was served with 15 snap-[raps (10-rat and 5-mouse traps) for five successive nights. The traps were placed in the manner that three were at the four cor-ners and the remaining three in the centre of the fields. The traps were set late in the evening with the local bread (Roil), being used as the bait and were picked up early next morning. The trapped specimens of house mouse after being given the field numbers were brought to the laboratory, to calculate the trap success of Mus nuescultis in different cropped areas.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Cotton: Cotton crop was sampled for six months (August to December and again in June), during which 12.5 acres were trapped for Mu: inuscuhts, with 935 trapnights yielding an average trap success of 4.9% (Table 1). Fodders: Fodders, leguminoid (sorghum, maize and millet) and graminoid (berseem, lucern and shaftal) were sampled for the entire study period. in all, 25 acres were sampled for the house mouse, covering 1875
