Estimation of Population Density of Different Species of Rodents in Groundnut

Rodents had been identified as the most important mammalian pest of groundnut.. Rodents areimportant pests of groundnut with 30–40 percentage damage to seeds at germination, 6–9 percentage damage at pod maturation and4-9 percentage damage to mature pods besides their hoarding. Rodent density level in and nearby at different stages of growth are necessary to take precautionary measures to save the crop from damage. Agood deal of work on insect pests has been done on groundnut in many parts of India. However, very little is known about rodent's infestation in groundnut so detailed work carried out during both during kharif and summer of 2012–13 in groundnut crop in Thagachuguppey village, Magadi Taluk in Ramanagara District of Karnataka state. Population density of five species were studied in detail. Highest number os species were found that of Bandicota bengalensis throught out the season(41.9%) followed by Tatera indica(34%).