Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

The bushfowl (Francolinus bicalcaratus bicalcaratus L.) is a major avian pest on planted maize seeds. Maize seeds coloured green and normal white seeds were planted at different depths of 2.5 cm, 5.0 cm, 7.5 cm, 10.0 cm, 12.5 cm, and 15.0 cm in three different trials between 1987 and 1988. The effect of planting depth was highly significant. Damage occurring to seeds planted at a depth of 2.5 cm was significantly higher than all the other depths, even though there was not significant damage among the other depths.