Contamination and consumption of stored wheat by a closed population of Mus musculus
1987
LaVoie, G.K. | Michell, G.C. | Bornstein, M.S.
A simulation of bulk storage of winter wheat infested with a closed population of house mice (Mus musculus) was used to develop and combine methods for assessing contamination and consumption losses in actual storage units. Several of the findings reported here seem obvious, however, verification by quantification was needed. The simulated storage was carried out for 150 days. The number of animals remained fairly constant during the study. A total of 109 kg of wheat with a surface area of 1.97 square meter was used. Urine, feces, and hair contamination were estimated for surface (upper 2.5 cm) wheat by location, and for total wheat stored. Wheat consumption was also determined. A simple method using plastic bags to examine samples permitted reliable estimates of hairs and droppings. A previously developed method for the analysis of urea is described and was used for determining the presence of urine on the wheat seeds. The mice consumed an average of 35 g per day. During the 150 days, 65% of the surface seeds and 55% of all seeds were contaminated with urine. There were no significant effects on the number of urine-contaminated seeds with respect to location within the storage area. Duncan's multiple range tests showed no location patterns evident for droppings or hairs. Nevertheless, identical locations were found for the six most active and six least active sites for both droppings and hairs. Corners were contaminated the most, followed by edges, while the center of the stored wheat was the least contaminated.
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