Effectiveness of physical barriers to prevent rodent presence in poultry farms on Argentina

Abstract

The rodent commensal species are abundant on Argentinian poultry farms, causing economic losses and disease transmission. Preventing rodent colonization through the construction of poultry sheds with specific barriers against the entry of rodents is an alternative to the application of rodenticides. This work aimed to assess the effect of physical barriers to prevent rodent presence in experimental poultry sheds. New experimental sheds with and without physical barriers were constructed on two poultry farms. The footprint index (FI) was used as an estimator of rodent abundance. Rodent footprints were never observed inside the Experimental-barrier sheds but they were observed outside. In Experimental-without barrier sheds, rodent footprints were recorded inside and outside. In both farms there were significant differences according to the treatment in FI inside sheds, while no significant differences were found between treatments in the mean FI outside sheds. Our results suggest that physical barriers successfully prevented the colonization of rodents inside the Experimental-barrier during the studied period of 21 months. The installation of physical barriers during poultry shed construction is recommended to prevent rodent colonization and minimize the use of anticoagulant rodenticides for rodent control.