Repellency in some indigenous plants from Assam against lesser bandicoot rat, Bandicota Bengalensis

To find out the repellent effect, plants viz. Polygonum hydropiper, Capsicum chinense, Ricinus communis, Azadirachta indica leaf, Azadirachta indica seed kernel and Jatropha curcus were evaluated with lesser bandicoot rat, Bandicota bengalensis. Both choice and no-choice feeding trials were conducted. It was observed that consumption of treated baits by both sexes under choice test was reduced in comparison to no-choice test because of availability of an alternate plain food. In repellency test, A. indica seed kernel recorded significantly higher repellency index (66.26%-male; 65.06%-female) under choice feeding test followed by C. chinense (49.92%-male; 49.06%-female). Under no choice feeding trials also, A. indica seed kernel showed the highest repellency index of (77.75%-male; 78.58%-female) followed by that of C chinense (64.39%-male; 64.1%-female)