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Presents a study that evaluated the effectiveness of the Flight Control™ anthraquinone bird repellent in reducing blackbird depredations to newly planted rice in Louisiana. Assessment of the damage caused by blackbirds to planted rice seeds; Details on the species composition of blackbirds; Implications of the study for wildlife management.

Evaluates the use of the Flight Control anthraquinone product as a potential repellent to blackbirds in Louisiana. Damage to rice attributed to blackbirds; Chemical formulation; Mechanism of repellent action.

Abstract: Aeroz™ (9,10-anthraquinone (AQ)), a chemical rice seed treatment that effectively deters birds from depredating newly planted fields, could be an important management tool that enables rice producers to plant earlier in the season and increase yields. This bird repellent, while non-lethal to birds, has unknown toxicity to crayfish that often are closely integrated with rice production in southern regions of the USA. This study was conducted to assess if AQ, the active ingredient in Aeroz™, could be acutely toxic to the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Girard), the crayfish species most often associated with rice cultivation, via seed ingestion and/or through their contact with chemical in pond water. Mortality data from a 96h feeding study indicate that AQ-treated (1.76% by wt) rice seed was not acutely toxic to juvenile (∼3mo.) crayfish through the ingestion exposure route. In addition, a 96h aquatic acute toxicity test showed that the LC50 of AQ in juvenile crayfish is >85μgL−1 and above the water solubility limit of AQ. These results indicate that very minimal, if any, acute toxicity would be observed in juvenile crayfish if exposed to AQ via ingestion or dissolved or suspended in the water column. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]