Minia J. of Agric. Res. & Develop. Vol.(26) No.3 pp 391 -403 , 2006 EFFICACY OF SOME INTEGRATED BIRD MANAGEMENT ON CONTROLLING HOUSE SPARROW (PASSER DOMESTICUS NILOTICUS) BIRDS AND IMPROVING OF THOMPSON SEEDLESS GRAPES Sh. M. Abd EL- aal, * A. H. Abd EL-aal** and A.S. Yosef*** * Plant Protection Dept., Fac. Agric., El–Azhar Univ., Assiut, Egypt. ** Hort. Dept., Fac. Agric., El-Azhar Univ., Assiut, Egypt . *** Plant protection Res. Inst., Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt. Received 8 Jun 2006 Accepted 10 August 2006 ABSTRACT This study was conducted during 2004 and 2005 seasons to investigate the efficiency of some integrated bird management on controlling house sparrow birds and improving quality of Thompson seedless grapes. Four chemical pesticides namely Pyriban, Cidial L, Captan and Bayfidan, were used. Two birds scaring namely nylon fish nets and reflecting stripes were also tested. Results showed that using pesticides at 0.5 to 1.0% in Thompson seedless vineyard achieved considerable protection against house sparrow birds compared to the check treatment. The degree of protection was associated with increasing the level of application. The highest repellency effect against the house sparrow birds was occurred with using Pyriban and Bayfidan in the first season and Captan and Bayfidan in the second one. Application of Bayfidan proved to be effective in both seasons. Using Nylon fish nets and reflecting stripes caused a great protection against house sparrow birds. Reflecting stripes as bird scaring was preferable than Nylon fish nets in protecting the fruits from the birds. Application of the four pesticides namely Cidial-L, Captan Pyriban and Bayfidan at 0.5 to 1.0, in the descending order effectively improved quality parameters of fruits in terms of increasing weight size and dimensions of berry, total soluble solids % and T.S.S / acid ratio and in reducing total acidity. Berries of the treated vines tended to be roundish. The promotion was associated with increasing rates of concentration. Sh. M. Abd EL-All et. al. According to the methods of bird management which have the least impact on ecosystems stability and natural balance; it is recommended to use reflecting stripes as bird scaring for alleviating damage caused by house sparrow birds in Thompson seedless vineyards. INTRODUCTION Grapes are the most widely distributed fruit crops. They are the most important fruits due to their high production which give a great net income to growers. In 2003, the total area cultivate with grapevines in Egypt was more than 155000 feddans (according to the last statistics of Ministry of Agriculture, 2004). Bird damage problem all-over the world is of great concern, since the economic losses caused by birds reached more than 10% of the production in different crops (Bruggers and Ruelle, 1981). Total losses in grape production in the world due to bird damage reached several millions of dollars annually (Dehaven et. al. 1979). Egypt suffers from considerable production losses from flying vertebrates. However, controlling of birds is considered the most difficult operation because many birds are protected by international laws. Bird repellent methods are safe for the environment and for non target and even target species. Their functions are usually based on the physical and chemical senses of target pests and crops (Fitzwater, 1982). Methods of bird repellent are classified into the following groups: a) visual repellents (through light), b) acoustical repellent (hearing), c) tactile repellents (touch), d) gustatory repellent (taste) and F) olfactory repellents (smell). A good repellent methods on material is the are that affects two or more these senses. Therefore, application of pesticides to control of the noxious bird species (i.e. house sparrow, Passer domesticus niloticus and Spanish sparrow and Passer Paniolensis) on vineyards was accompanied with improving the yield and quality of the fruits. These integrated bird management applied in vineyards was followed by improving productivity (Winkler 1953; Winkler, 1965, Winkler et. al. 1974, Weaver, 1976 and Ware, 1983). -392- Controlling house sparrow birds and improving Thompson Seedless Grapes The present investigation aimed to throw some light on the efficiency of certain integrated bird management applied in vineyards on checking bird attack and improving quality of Thomson seedless grapes. MATERIAL AND METHODS The present study was carried out during the two successive seasons of 2004 and 2005 on 6-year old mature, own-rooted Thompson seedless grape road grown in newly reclaimed area of Nubaria farm, Cairo Alexandria desert rood. The vines were planted in a light calcareous sandy soil and spaced at 1.5m (between vines in the row) X 2.75m (between rows). The vines were trellis trained and cane pruned. Five canes 14 buds each and approximately five renewably spurs, two buds each, were retained on each vine at winter pruning in the middle of January in both seasons according to Fawzi et. al., (1984). The vines were drip irrigated and fertilized with macro and micronutrient via fertigation. All vines received the same agricultural practices already applied in the vineyard. Experimental vines were chosen several weeks prior to anthesis on the basis of uniformity of foliage and cluster development. All vines were adjusted to the same cluster number (i.e. 25 clusters) prior to anthesis. The experimental treatments tested in this trial were as follows: Pesticides used: A) B) C) D) Pyriban 48% E.C. (Chloropyrifos): 0,0 – diethyl – 0 – (3,5,6 trichloro – 2 – Pyridyl ) phosphoro thioate. Cidial – L 50% E.C. (Phenthoate): S – (& - ethoxy – carbonyl bonzyl) – 0,0 – dimethyl phosphorodithioate. Captan 50% W.P. (Captan): N – trichloro methylthio – 4 – cyclohexene – 1,2 – dicarboximide. Bayfidan 25% E.C. (Triadimenol): B – (4 – Chloro – phenoxy ) & (1,1 – dimethyl ethyl ) 1-H- 1,2,4 triazole – 1 – ethanol. Physical and chemical characteristics of berries: Clusters were harvested in both seasons when the total soluble solids of the untreated berries reached about 16-17% according to Tourky et. al., (1995). At harvest time (last week of July) from each -393- Sh. M. Abd EL-All et. al. treatment, six samples each containing 50 berries were used for physical and chemical determinations such as average berry weight (g), diameter (mm) and size (cm)3. In addition berry dimensions (i.e. length and width) and berry shape index were calculated. In the juice, the chemical traits were determined i.e total soluble solids, total acidity (as g tartaric acid / 100 g Juice) and ratio between total soluble solids and total acidity% according to the methods outlined by A.O.A.C. (1985). Evaluation of the efficiency of some approaches of integrated bird management (IBM): Recently in Egypt, noxious bird species (i.e. house sparrow, Passer domesticus niloticus) severely attack the different growth stages of Thompson seedless grape fruits. To solve this problem the efficacy of some control techniques and approaches were evaluated against house sparrow birds. This was implemented in accordance to the vineyards protection index (PI) research programs under different agro ecosystems. Mechanical approaches: Effect of nylon fish nets: Nylon fish net was evaluated under the conditions of Thompson seedless grape fruits in Nubari farm at Alexandria desert road. Three plots, each of 20m2, were covered directly by nets before ripening stage. Other plots were left without covering as control. Damage and undamaged sprouting were assessed after 3, 7 and 15 days. Damage percentage was calculated using the following formula: Average No. of damage fruits % bird damage = ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــx 100 Average No. of total investigated fruits The reflecting stripes: The effectiveness of reflecting strips in repelling the noxious birds from the field crops was evaluated under the conditions of vineyards. Three tested field, each 2 feddans. At the experimental area, reflecting stripes, 11 mm wide and 30 m length with different colours were stretched and strung on 2m wooden poles against the -394- Controlling house sparrow birds and improving Thompson Seedless Grapes wind direction at 5 m intervals in parallel strands above the plants with 0.5 m. One feddan was completely covered with 10 rollers of reflecting stripes. Another feddan was left without treatment as control far at lest 500 – 100 m from the treated ones (Conover and Dolbeen, 1989). Bird damage was assessed in the treated and untreated areas and protection index (PI) was calculated by the equation adopted by Inglis and Isaacon (1987): A–B % Protection Index (PI) = ــــــــــــــــــــــــx 100 A Where A = Mean damage percentage in untreated area. B = Mean damage percentage in treated area. Chemical approaches: Repellency action of tested compounds : Trial was conducted under the conditions of vineyards fields to examine the repellency potential of Pyriban, Cidial-L, Captan and Byfidan. Each compound was applied at 0.5 and 1.0% level once in water on June 10, 2004 and 2005 (about 6 weeks before harvest). Experimental plots of Thompson seedless grape were separated from each other by about 3 meters. Three replicates were used for each treatment. Spraying the pesticide was carried out by using a motorized knapsack sprayer. Bird damage assessment was carried out in treated and untreated area after 15 days from spraying (El-Deeb, 1990). Damage percentage and protection index (PI) were calculated as mentioned before. All the obtained data were tabulated and subjected to proper statistical analysis according to Snedecor and Cochran (1967) using new L.S.D test to differentiate the different between various treatment means. -395- Sh. M. Abd EL-All et. al. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Effect of some insecticides on the physical and chemical properties of the grapes: Table 1 shows the effect of some insecticides on some physical and chemical characters of Thompson seedless grapes during 2004 and 2005 seasons. It is clear that application of the four bird repellents namely Bayfidan, Pyriban, Captan and Cidial L at 0.5 to 1.0% significantly improved quality parameters of the berries in terms of increasing weight, size, dimensions of berry and total soluble solids, while reduced total acidity compared to the control treatments. Spraying Cidial L, Captan, Pyriban and Bayfidan, in the descending order was very effective in promoting the quality of the berries. Increasing the rates of each bird repellent from 0.5 to 1.0% caused a slight and insignificant promotion on fruit quality. Significant differences on all quality parameters among the four bird repellants were observed. Treated berries tended to be roundish. Regarding to the quality of Thompson seedless grapes, the best results were obtained when attacking birds was carried out by Cidial L. The control treatment gave unfavorable effects on fruit quality these results were true in both seasons. The scaring of birds by birds repellents materially was accompanied with protecting the clusters from the incidence of various diseases namely rots which reflected in obtaining heaviest clusters and higher yield. The disappearance of rots from clusters was also accompanied with decreasing fruit dropping and succeeded in gaining heaviest clusters (Weaver, 1976). The obtained results are in accordance with those of Winkler (1953) and Winkler et. al (1974). Efficiency of integrated bird management (IBM) Programmes: The effectiveness of the different methods of bird management was examined at Nubaria farm. The methods of bird management should be sequenced and priority should be given to the methods which will have the least impact on ecosystems, stability and natural balance. The objective of integrated pest management is to alleviate damage and not to destroy the pest species. -396- Controlling house sparrow birds and improving Thompson Seedless Grapes -397- Sh. M. Abd EL-All et. al. Mechanical approaches: The efficacy on nylon fish nets and reflecting stripes: The effectiveness of nylon fish nets and reflecting stripes in protection of vineyards from the attack of sparrow species in Nubaria farm are shown in Table 2. Result obtained indicated that the highest values of protection index (PI) occurred by using both mechanical programs during 2004 and 2005 seasons of Thompson seedless grape. The PI with nylon fish nets and reflecting strips were 56.11 & 74.51% and 63.88 & 77.94% during the two seasons, respectively. These findings are in accordance with those of Buggers and Ruelle, (1982) and Plesser and Omasi (1983), who reported that physical barriers such as nets or acrylic fibers could prevent the bird attacks to fruits or seed field and provide almost complete protection. The nets are non-toxic, noiseless, and reusable barriers that achieve 100% effectiveness. Since nets are expensive, therefore, it can be used only to protect high-value crops, protection schemes and nurseries at research centers. Table 2: Effect of nylon fish nets and reflecting stripes as bird scaring in grape fruit during of 2004 and 2005 seasons against house sparrow bird P. demesticus niloticus. Methods Control Nylon fish nets Reflecting stripes % Damage 2004 18.0 7.9 6.5 2005 20.4 5.2 4.5 Protection Index (PI) 2004 100.0 56.11 63.88 2005 100.0 74.51 77.94 Chemical approaches : Repellency methods : Data in Table 3 indicated that tested pesticides when used at 0.5 and 1.0% achieved considerable protection for Thompson seedless grape, i.e. 53.56 & 53.62 and 87.78 & 79.80 for Pyriban; 68.10 & 67.4 and 68.74 & 86.96 for Cidial-L; 21.60 & 53.40 and 33.10 & 88.50 for Captan; 33.69 & 85.86 and 86.53 and 91.12% for Bayfidan against house sparrow birds in Thompson seedless grapevine field during 2004 and 2005 seasons, respectively. -398- Controlling house sparrow birds and improving Thompson Seedless Grapes -399- Sh. M. Abd EL-All et. al. It was observed that spraying pesticides at 1.0% gave the highest efficiency in Thompson seedless grape protection during the two seasons compared with 0.5%. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between the tested compounds. It is evident that the high repellency effect against the house sparrow birds was occurred with pyriban and Bayfidan during 2004 seasons, while was with Captan and Bayfidan during 2005 seasons and the lowest with captan during 2004 seasons. On the other hand, all tested compounds exhibited different repellency effect under the conditions of field during the two seasons. This may be due to the pressure of bird in field crops. It could be concluded that the effectiveness of the tested compounds differed considerably according to the type of chemical, concentration and density of birds. Results of Kahi and Samson (1984); Flegler et. al. (1987) ; El-Deeb (1990) and Abd-El-All et. al. (1995), who worked on the effect of some pesticides as a bird repellent and protection of crops against sprout damage by house sparrow birds could support the present results. As a conclusion, it is recommended to use reflecting stripes as bird scaring for alleviating the great damage caused by birds and save the ecosystem stability in Thompson seedless grapevine vineyards. REFERENCES Abd El-All, S.M.; El-Deeb, H.A; Zedan, H.A. and Wilson, M.B. (1995): Screening of some wild and ornamental plant extract as bird repellent against certain common bird pest in Egypt. 1st, Int. conf. of pest control, Mansoura, Egypt, Sepl., pp. 97-105. Association of official Agricultural chemists (1985): Official methods of analysis. 12th Ed. Published by Benjamin Franklin station, Washington D.C., U.S.A. Bruggers, R.L. and Ruelle, P. (1981): Economic impact of pest birds on ripening cereals in Senegal. Prot. Ecol., 3: 7-16. -400- Controlling house sparrow birds and improving Thompson Seedless Grapes Bruggers, R.L. and Ruelle, P. (1982): Efficacy of nets and fibres for protecting crops from grain- eating birds in Africa. Crop Prot. (7), 55-65. Conover, R.M. and Dolbeer, R.A. (1989): Reflecting tapes fail to reduce blackbird damage to ripening corn fields. Wild. Soc. Bull. 17: 441-443. Dehaven, R.W.; Mott, D.F.; Guarino, J.F.; Knittle, C.E. and Schafer, E.W.Jr. (1979): International pest control vol. 21 No.1. pp. 12-14. El-Deeb, H.I.H. (1990): Effect of certain compounds as bird repellent to protect field crops under different conditions. Zagazig J. Agric. Res., Vol. 17 (5B): 1701-1707. Fawzi, F.; Kamel, A. and Mougi, M. (1984): Effect of pruning severity on fertility of buds and dynamics of bunch and wood ripening in Thompson seedless grapevines. Agric. Res. Egypt, 62 (3): 101-108. Fitzwater, W.D. (1982): Getting physical with bird control in food plants. (Baur, F.J. and Ackson, W.B. Eds.). The American Association of cereal chemists, St. Paul, Minnesota, PP. 31-44. Flegler, E.J.; Prinice, H.H.Jr. and Johnson, W.C. (1987): Effects of grazing by Canada geese on winter wheat yield. WildlSoc. Bul. 15: 402-405. Kahi, R.B. and Samson, F.B. (1984): Factors affecting yield of winter wheat grazed by geese. Wildl- Soc. Bul. 12: 256262. Plesser, H. and Omasi, S. (1983): Mist nets as a means of eliminating bird damage to vineyards. Crop protection. 2 (4), 503506. Snedecor, G.W. and Cochran, G.W. (1967): Statistical methods. Lowa, USA. The lowa state Univ., Press. pp. 593. Tourky, M.N.; El-Shahat, S.S. and Rizk, M.H. (1995): Effect of Dormex on fruit set, quality and storage life of Thompson seedless grapes (Banati grapes). J. Agric. Sci., Mansoura Univ., 20 (12) : 5139-5151. Egypt. -401- Sh. M. Abd EL-All et. al. Ware, G.W. (1983): Pesticides theory and application. W.H. Freeman and company sam Franc. pp. 308. Weaver, R.J. (1976): Grape growing. A Wiley Inter. Publisher John Wiley, Davis New York pp. 182-183. Winkler, A.J. (1953): Producing table grapes of better quality. Bule Anchor, 30 (1): 28 – 31. Winkler, A.J. (1965): General viticulture Univ. of Calif. Press Berkeley and los analysis pp. 80-92. Winkler, A.J.; Cook, A.J.; Kliewer, W.M. and Lider, L.A. (1974): General viticulture Univ. of Calif. Press Berkelly pp. 110-120. -402- Controlling house sparrow birds and improving Thompson Seedless Grapes فاعلية بع ض طرق المكافحة المتكاملة في طرد عصفور النيل الدوري وتحسين جودة حبات العنب الطومسون سيدلس شعبان محمد عبد العال* ،أحمد حسن عبد العال** ،عبد النبي سند يوسف *** * قسم وقاية النبات ـ كلية الزراعة ـ جامعة األزهر ـ أسيوط ـ مصر . ** قسم البساتين ـ كلية الزراعة ـ جامعة األزهر ـ أسيوط ـ مصر 0 *** قسم الحيوان الزراعي ـ معهد بحوث وقاية النبات ـ مركز البحوث الزراعية ـ جيزة ـ مصر. أجريت هذه الدراسة خالل موسمي 2005 ، 2004لبيان فاعلية بعض طرق المكافحة المتكاملة في طرد العصافير وتحسين خصائص الجودة للعنب الطومسون سيدلس .وقد تم استخدام أربعة مبيدات طاردة للعصافير هي البيربان ،السيديال ل ،الكابتان والباي فيدان واستخدام تركيزين 0.5و %1.0كما تم استخدام طريقتين ميكانيكيتين طاردتين للعصافير هما شبك السمك النايلون ،وأشرطة الكاسيت. أشارت نتائج الدراسة أن استخدام األربعة مبيدات السابقة بتركيزين هما 0.5و %1.0 في كروم العنب الطومسون سيدلس يؤدي إلى حماية كافية من العصافير وذلك بالمقارنة بعدم الرش وكانت درجة الحماية من هجوم العصافير ترتبط بزيادة التركيز المستخدم من كل مبيد وكانت أكبر فعالية في طرد العصافير في الموسم األول كانت عند استخدام البيربان والباي فيدان والكابتان في الموسم الثاني ويعتبر مبيد الباي فيدان فعال في طرد العصافير في كال الموسمين كما أدى استخدام الطرق الميكانيكية مثل شيك السمك النايلون وأشرطة الكاسيت إلى حماية المزرعة من العصافير وذلك بالمقارنة بعدم االستخدام وكان استخدام أشرطة الكاسيت مفضالً عن شيك السمك النايلون في طرد العصافير وحماية حبات العنقود 0كما أشارت النتائج إلى أن استخدام المبيدات األربعة السابقة أدى إلى تحسين جودة حبات العنب الطومسون سيدلس في صورة زيادة الوزن والحجم وأبعاد الحبة ،النسبة المئوية للمواد الصلبة الذائبة الكلية والنسبة ما بين المواد الصلبة الذائبة الكلية والحموضة وفي تقليل النسبة المئوية للحموضة الكلية وكانت الحبات المأخوذة من كرمات تم رشها بهذه المبيدات تميل إلى االستدارة وكان التحسن في صفات الجودة مرتبط بزيادة الجرعة المستخدمة بين كل مبيدات 0 وطبقاً لطرق المكافحة المتكاملة الميكانيكية والكيماوية السابقة مع مراعاة قلة اآلثار الضارة على البيئة وثباتها وتأثيرها على التوازن الطبيعي فإنه ينصح باستخدام أشرطة الكاسيت كطارد للعصافير لتقليل حدة الضرر الناتج عن العصافير في كروم العنب الطومسون سيدلس 0 -403- Sh. M. Abd EL-All et. al. -404-