The Application of Electric Shock as a Novel Pest Control Method for Apple Snail, Pomacea canaliculata (Gastropoda: Ampullariidae)

抄録

The apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata, brought to Japan from Taiwan for human consumption in the 1980s, has come to be considered as deleterious for rice cultivation. The snail is unable to injure young rice plants while receiving electric shock because the snail retracts its entire body into its shell and shuts its aperture with its operculum. Electric shock should be applied intermittently to reduce the amount of energy that is wasted when the snail is in its shell made of one of the insulator. The minimum electric shock required for controlling snails and the time required for movement after application of electric shock to determine the frequency of each electric shock were investigated using two methods; vertical and horizontal application of the electrical stimulation. The results showed that there is a strong correlation between the strength of electric shock and the reaction of the snails, and electric shock made snails inactive when it was applied 0.35 A/m² in the horizontal direction and 0.45 A/m² in the vertical direction with water of 11 mS/m. A positive correlation was also found between electric shock and the reaction of the snails and shell height. In comparison with larger snails, the smaller snails had higher threshold levels against electric current density because their shorter feet tended to have lower voltage dorp. Moreover, the frequency of electric shock should be chosen the minimum duration for the inactive condition, and it was approximately 10 seconds. Consequently the direction of electric current should be in the horizontal direction above 0.35 A/m² and the frequency of electric shock should be less than 10 seconds for practical use. However, electric shock would have to be maintained at greater than 0.35 A/m² because snails might become habituated to electric shock and water in paddy field would have high electric conductivity.