Control of Brown Rat (rattus Norvegicus) on a Dairy Farm in Serbia

Rattus norvegicus is a synanthropic species living almost exclusively around facilities for keeping domestic animals. This three-year research focused on options for reducing economic damage caused by this rodent species in stables for heavy milking cows by testing preparations with active substances of various origin. It involved an environmentally friendly product based on sodium selenite 0.1%, a cholecalciferol-based natural product 0.75%, as well as anticoagulant rodenticides containing the active substances bromadiolone 0.005% and brodifacoum 0.005%. These preparations were formulated as granules, plate bait or grain bait. The environmentally friendly sodium selenite product achieved 76.2% efficacy in the first year of research, 70% in the second, and 67.5% in the third. The synthetic products based on bromadiolone and brodifacoum demonstrated high efficacy in all of the three experimental years and in all three formulations. The cholecalciferol rodenticide had 71.4% efficacy in the first year, 68% in the second, and 67.7% in the third. The data show that the environmentally safe product had a lower efficacy due to high rodent abundance and inadequate epidemiological conditions existing on the farm of heavy milking cows, while the bromadiolone and brodifacoum-based products achieved high efficacy.