Dispersal of viable row-crop seeds of commercial agriculture by farmland birds: implication for genetically modified crops.

To address some concerns about the expansion of genetically engineered pharmaceutical and industrial crops to outdoor plantings and potential impacts on the human food supply, we determined whether commercial agriculture seeds of maize or corn Zea mays L., barley Hordeum vulgare L., safflower Carthamus tinctorius L. and rice Oryza sativa L. are digested or pass viably through the digestive tract, or are transported externally, by captive mallard ducks Anas platyrhynchos L., ring-necked pheasants Phasianus colchicus L., red-winged blackbirds Agelaius phoeniceus (L.) and rock pigeons Columba livia Gmelin (with the exception of whole maize seeds which were too large to feed to the blackbirds). These crop seeds, whether free-fed or force-fed, did not pass through the digestive tract of these bird species. The birds nonetheless did retain viable seeds in the esophagus/crop and gizzard for several hours. For example, after foraging for 6 h, mallards had retained an average of 228 +/- 112 barley seeds and pheasants 192 +/- 78 in the esophagus/crop, and their germination rates were 93 and 50%, respectively. Birds externally transported seeds away from the feeding location, but in only four instances were seeds found attached to their muddy feet or legs and in no case to feathers. Risk of such crop seeds germinating, establishing and reproducing off site after transport by a bird (externally or internally) or movement of a carcass by a predator, will depend greatly on the crop and bird species, location, environmental conditions (including soil characteristics), timing, and seed condition.

Determination of anthraquinone in technical material, formulations, and lettuce by high performance liquid chromatography.

Foraging on lettuce seeds and seedlings by horned larks (Eremophila alpestris) causes millions of dollars in losses to the California lettuce crop annually. Anthraquinone (AQ; 9,10-anthracenedione) has been shown to deter pest birds from consuming the seeds and seedlings of several plant species and was evaluated as a repellent to horned larks when applied to lettuce seedlings. A set of analytical methods using simple liquid extraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis were developed for the quantitation of AQ as technical material, as an active ingredient in a commercial formulation, and as a residue in lettuce plants. The methods were easy, reliable, and repeatable. AQ recoveries from control formulation fortified to concentrations of either 24 or 600 mg g(-)(1) were 99 (+/-1.2%) and 98% (+/-1.2%), respectively, with a control formulation method limit of detection (MLOD) of 0.50 mg g(-)(1). Control lettuce tissues from three growth stages were AQ-fortified to concentrations of 0.50 and 500 microg g(-)(1). The resulting AQ recoveries for the two fortification levels were 99 (+/-8.5) and 89% (+/-1.5%) for 11 day old seedlings, 95 (+/-2.6%) and 86% (2.1%) for 16 day old plants, and 92 (+/-1.4%) and 93% (+/-1.1%) for adult head lettuce cover leaves, respectively. The MLODs for the same three lettuce tissues were 0.055, 0.058, and 0.077 microg g(-)(1), respectively. These methods were used to quantify AQ residues from field-grown, treated lettuce and associated fortified quality control samples.