Efficacy of brodifacoum 50ppm-based rodenticidal baits on the control of the mice Mus musculus in Cotonou

In Benin, cities with a high population rate such as Cotonou are colonized by several species of rats such as Rattus rattus, Mastomys sp, Mus musculus and Crocidura olivieri which are agents of destruction of stored products especially in the area of the big Dantokpa market. Indeed, anticoagulants are the most frequently used rodenticides worldwide in the fight against these rodents. However, very few studies have evaluated the biological efficacy of high dose rodenticides on the resistant strain of the mouse population (Mus musculus) in Cotonou. The present work compared the efficacy of three original brodifacoum-based baits: vertox pellets, vertox block and vertox past on the wild domestic mouse strain (Mus musculus) in Cotonou. The results showed that in the no-choice feeding tests in the laboratory, 100% of the animals died in all experimental groups and zero in the control groups. Time to death did not differ significantly between vertox pellet and vertox block bait in either test/feeding regime. However, with vertox past, a relatively longer time to death was observed. The three baits were therefore tested under field conditions on mouse populations and showed the following efficacy in terms of mouse mortality after three weeks: 83.33% with vertox pellets; 72% with vertox block and 95.33% with vertox past. The results obtained highlighted the good efficacy of the three brodifacoum-based baits in heterogeneous (resistant or not) mouse populations. However, an additional study is needed with the same anticoagulants only on resistant rodent populations.