Damage assessment and management strategies for house crow (Corvus splendens L) on the seedling stages of maize and wheat in an irrigated agricultural farmland of Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The house crow (Corvus splendens L.) of the order ‘corvidae’, inhabits a wide range of habitats throughout the medium sized cultivations in the varied agro-ecosystems. In Pakistan, it roosts among light timbered vegetation, abandoned and old buildings and in close association with man. Crow roosts predominantly range from large to moderate depending on the availability of food resources and occurrence of predators. Crows are considered as potential vertebrate pest among varied habitats and depredate on seedling through mature stages of different crops. Moreover, their depredatory impacts have also been recorded on the post-harvested sheaves in good proportions. Present study was conducted to assess the damage caused by Corvus splendens to seedling stages of wheat and maize. For wheat, the damage profiles in the morning and evening remained maximum 15.34±1.27 through 17.94±2.24, while in the hawk eye protected conditions for the same morning and evening durations, lowered damage intensities 5.15±1.11 and 5.25±0.93 were recorded. For the maize in both the situations also depicted lower crow depredatory profiles, therefore, evincing the effectiveness of the hawk eye rotator. It remains pertinent the implication of various repellents should prove amply effective and sustainable for various cropping patterns as they are devoid of any of undesirable impacts on the cultivations, non-targeted species and sustainable agriculture, not only to promote better crops, but also improve on cost-effective ecosystem sustainability.