KR100344780B1 - Prevention of fruit damage by wild birds using conditioned taste aversion(cta) - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for preventing fruit damage by wild birds using Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA). The present invention also relates to the use of Digitoxin for use in the method of preventing fruit damage by inducing CTA in wild birds.

Description

PREVENTION OF FRUIT DAMAGE BY WILD BIRDS USING CONDITIONED TASTE AVERSION (CTA)}

The present invention relates to a method for preventing fruit damage by wild birds using Conditioned Taste Aversion (hereinafter referred to as CTA).

In recent years, the damage caused by algae, in particular pears and apples are caused a lot, causing serious economic damage to fruit farms. Most of them are known to be damaged by Pica pica , and in addition, the magpie ( Cyanopica cyanus ), Starling ( Sturnus cineraceus ), Hypsipetes amaurotis and Garrulus glandarius are also known to cause damage. . In order to prevent such fruit damage, fruit growing farmers use various methods of combating birds. Especially in Naju, Jeollanam-do, the damage caused by the magpies is severe, and it is recommended that hunting magpies be used by guns while paying compensation. However, most of the methods of combating so far have not been effective in combating the magpies and thus cannot prevent the damage of the fruit. It is difficult to expect a good result because the magpies can be used to exterminate magpies directly by using firearms. In order to continually protect the fruit, it is necessary to kill all newly introduced magpies, which are not economically useful methods. Moreover, the public perception of wildlife protection has changed domestically and internationally, and thus opposition to the indiscriminate killing of wild animals. It is not a realistic way.

Of course, the damage of fruit trees by wild birds is very serious and preventive measures must be taken. In foreign countries, the active protection of predators led to a significant increase in their numbers, which led to problems. In addition, the population of their main predators, Coyote, has increased dramatically in the US cattle's wild pastures, and the frequency of attacking livestock's offspring has increased, which has led to animal breeders. But animals that harm livestock, as opposed to wildlife protection groups, have not been removed. Thus, they found ways to satisfy both farmers and animal conservationists without killing predators. One method is to use the CTA we are studying.

Garcia observed that in 1955, mice were exposed to low-intensity gamma rays while eating saccharin-containing water, after which the rats consumed the same taste of water less. Since the experiment, this behavior has been referred to as the conditional taste avoidance behavior (CTA) or the Garcia effect. CTA expresses refusal to taste after gastrointestinal illness after eating a favorite flavor of water or food. If you continue to experience the same taste and the resulting illness, you will be more reluctant to taste it. Subsequently, the animal with CTA acts with strong objection to any food that tastes the same. This CTA phenomenon has been observed in various kinds of animals ranging from mollusks to humans.

Unlike other learning behaviors, CTA is delayed learning even when there is a long time difference between food intake and the manifestation of poisoning symptoms. Whereas all learning behaviors other than CTA occur when the time difference between stimulus and response is within a maximum of one second, CTA learning occurs even after up to eight hours after feeding a food containing poison. Remember the taste of the food that caused the poisoning symptoms and continue to avoid it. These CTA learning behaviors have been interpreted as evolutionary acquisition of these behaviors because the effects of poisons do not immediately occur when wild animals eat food containing poisons in the wild.

Another feature of CTA is that learning takes place after only one meal eating and symptoms of poisoning. By doing so, wildlife acquires ways to avoid various types of toxic flora and fauna to survive in the wild. In general, the avoidance of potentially dangerous prey appears in three ways: First, when food is obtained, eating is usually stopped when the food has a bitter taste or when the taste is not familiar to the usual. This is because many vegetable poisons, especially alkaloid compounds, have a bitter taste. Second, the warning coloration of various insects visually avoids them regardless of whether they have poison. Third, predators have found a new flavor of food, which is quite different from eating foods that are familiar to vegetarians. Predators eat new food very slowly, preventing them from eating lethal poisons and making sure the new food is safe. If symptoms of poisoning occur after eating the new food, the predator immediately obtains a CTA for the taste of the food and subsequently almost permanently avoids the food containing the taste.

Important factors influencing CTA acquisition include: First, CTA is induced by the familiarity of the target taste. The stronger the intimacy of the taste, the more the subject animal is aware of the learning safety of the food, which leads to longer CTA induction (learned safety), and a single addiction if the food is low or new. CTA is also formed. Second is the intensity of intoxication symptoms. If the symptoms of poisoning are very mild, CTAs do not form. If the symptoms of poisoning are strong, CTAs do not disappear quickly and easily. Third is the time between food intake and the onset of symptoms of poisoning. The sooner symptoms of poisoning occur, the sooner the CTA should be avoided for the taste of the food that caused the illness.

After wildlife is known to eat foods with a particular taste and then almost permanently avoid food containing those foods, the animal's behavior can be used to protect livestock such as sheep or cattle from the attack of coyotes in North America, In addition, research has been conducted to protect nest eggs and offspring from predators such as foxes in waterbird population breeding sites. The method also attempts to protect crops against algae that damage grains and fruits. On the other hand, the CTA phenomenon can also be applied as a way to protect the eggs of sea turtles in danger of extinction from mongoose attacks. However, as mentioned above, attempts have been made to apply CTA to wild animals using various compounds, but have not been successfully applied.

Therefore, the CTA-induced experiments on algae including the magpie of the present inventors confirmed that this method can be applied to substantially avoid fruit damage. Therefore, the present inventors have developed an economical damage prevention method that can prevent the damage to the boat without killing algae, including magpies, by applying CTA to the orchard as a method for preventing the damage of the fruit by the algae.

What is important in the present invention is to select the optimal compound for the application of CTA to wild algae and to find the CTA induction and the number of treatments. It is also a key element of the present invention to provide a concealment technique that prevents wild algae from sensing the taste of a given compound.

1 is a graph showing the cumulative amount of fruit consumption at each of the control and treated digit toxin treated and treated with Digitoxin.

The present invention provides a method for preventing fruit damage by wild birds using Conditioned Taste Aversion.

As a first aspect, the present invention

i) providing feed to the algae habitat for the algae to feed;

ii) providing a fruit with said feed for which damage is desired,

iii) providing the fruit with and without the CTA inducing agent, and

iv) again providing the feed and untreated CTA-induced fruit as in step ii), thereby providing a method for preventing fruit damage of wild birds using conditional taste avoidance (CTA).

In this first aspect of the invention, usable CTA inducers are tasteless odorless poisons such as digitoxins. It is important that the CTA inducer does not recognize the taste of the algae, therefore digitoxins, which are tasteless and odorless and are known to treat plant heart disease, are preferred. In addition, any algae can be used as long as the taste is not recognized.

Digitoxin is mixed with wheat flour 1: 1 and used to seal after inserting a hole in the center of fruit. This method of use is intended to prevent algae from veganism due to poisons.

The use of digitoxins causes CTAs, but amounts that are not lethal to algae are adequate. Preferably, about 40 mg to 80 mg / kg body weight.

The appropriate number of treatments of digitoxins to induce CTA was found to be sufficient about 3 to 4 times as demonstrated by the examples herein.

In addition, as a second aspect, the present invention provides the use of digitoxin for use as a CTA inducer in the method of preventing fruit damage.

Example

The experiment was conducted at the Forestry Research Institute in Cheongnyangni-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. This experiment was conducted to check the applicability in the real fruit farms by producing CTA for pears that live in the wild in farming areas and avoiding untreated pears.

1.Preliminary Period (20 days)

A magpie that forms a sphere of power within the Forestry Research Institute was inhabited, and 60 pellet-based broiler feeds were provided every morning from 9 am on the ground around the tree. Each dish was revisited four hours later to check for vegetarianism and to leave uneaten prey until the next morning. The next morning, raw food was collected and 60 new feeds were provided.

2. Pretest Period (7 days)

During this period, in addition to 60 blended feeds, 10 pear slices cut into 0.5 cm squares on one side were provided. At this time, no chemical treatment was applied to both types of food. As in the preparation period, the food was firstly checked 4 hours after the food was provided, and after 24 hours, the remaining food was rechecked and replaced with a new food.

3. Treatment Period (7 days)

During this period, two of the 10 pear slices were dug in the center, and then inserted into a mixture of 40 mg / kg body weight and 1 kg of wheat flour in a 1: 1 mixture, sealed and daily with 8 unprocessed pear slices. Served in the morning and no formula feed.

4. Posttest Period (after 7 days, 20 days, 50 days)

The test method during this period is the same as the pretest period. That is, the waste was not treated with chemicals and the feed was provided in the same way.

Experiment result

During the prep and preliminary periods, most of the food given to the magpies was vegetarian within 4 hours. During the treatment period, it was confirmed that the vegetarian amount of the pear slices began to decrease sharply from the 5th to the 6th day after the digit toxin was treated, and after eating the digit toxin treated pear slices for 3 to 4 days per magpie, the CTA was added to the pear slices. Confirmed to be obtained. In these experimental groups, the untreated pieces were kept to be avoided for up to 50 days during the post-test period, while the combined feeds continued to be vegetarian, indicating that the same individuals remained in their sphere during the post-test period. It was also confirmed that the ship was avoided by CTA.

Fruit damage caused by wild birds in the orchards of the country, especially the excavation, has caused enormous economic losses. Estimating the damage, Korea's pear industry has an annual ship production of 250,000 tons, which translates into an economy of about 500 billion won. At this time, if the damage caused by wild birds is estimated at a minimum of 5%, the damage is estimated to be about 25 billion won per year. Therefore, if the CTA applied research is successful and can reduce 50% of wild bird's excavation damage, we can prevent the loss of 12.5 billion won per year in farms nationwide. Therefore, if the ship damage prevention measures using the CTA is put to practical use, it is environmentally friendly and does not kill wild birds. This minimizes the economic loss of the farm and prevents waste of labor.

Claims (13)

Using Conditioned Taste Aversion to prevent fruit damage by wild birds, i) providing feed to the algae habitat for the algae to feed; ii) providing a fruit with said feed for which damage is desired, iii) providing the fruit with and without the CTA inducing agent, and iv) again providing the feed and CTA-induced fruit as in step ii). The method of claim 1, wherein the wild bird is magpie. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the CTA-inducing agent comprises digitoxin. The method for preventing fruit damage according to claim 3, wherein the digit toxin mixed with flour is 1: 1 and kneaded and used after sealing by inserting a hole in the center of the fruit. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein digitoxine is used in an amount of about 40 mg to 80 mg / kg body weight. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the digitoxin is treated with about three to four treatments sufficient to induce CTA. The method for preventing fruit damage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the fruit is doubled. Digitoxin for use as a CTA inducer for wild birds in the fruit damage prevention method of claim 1. The digitoxin according to claim 8, wherein the wild bird is magpie. 9. The digitoxin according to claim 8, wherein the mixture is mixed with wheat flour in a one-to-one manner and then kneaded and inserted into a hole at the center of the fruit, and then sealed. 9. Digitoxin according to claim 8, which is used in an amount of about 40 mg to 80 mg / kg body weight. 9. Digitoxin according to claim 8, which is treated with about 3 to 4 treatments sufficient to induce CTA. The digitoxin according to claim 8, wherein the fruit is a pear.