The Effects on Pheasants of Corn Treated with Various Fungicides

Abstract

The widespread treatment of seed corn with various fungicides to prevent "damping off" occurred at the time of the pheasant decline during and following World War II. This study was conducted to determine the effects, if any, of the treated seed corn on pheasants which consume newly planted corn. Groups of game farm pheasants consisting of 2 cocks and 8 hens each were fed, for a period of 13 days in 1947, known quantities of corn treated according to the manufacturers'' recommendations and planted to simulate field conditions. Fungicides used were "Barbak C," "Semesan Jr.," "Arasan," "Arasan S.F." and "Spergon" plus "DDT." A control group was fed untreated corn. 6 pheasants were sacrificed to permit gross and microscopic study as well as inorganic spectroscopic chemical analyses of the kidneys and livers. Less than 0.01% Hg by wt. of dried liver and kidney samples was detected in any of the pheasants that had fed on corn treated with Hg-containing fungicides. Some lesions were apparently produced in the hearts and kidneys of 3 of the sacrificed pheasants but it is doubtful if the damage was serious enough to have resulted in their death. Pheasants remaining alive were kept under observation from July 2 to May 2. Pheasants in the various exptl. pens died in about the same proportion as did the control birds. There was no clear-cut difference in the avg. no. of eggs laid by hens that had consumed treated corn and by those that had been fed untreated corn. The expt. provided evidence that seed corn treated with fungicides at the rate recommended by the manufacturers is not likely to be a serious factor in pheasant mortality or pheasant production.