Effectiveness of Plant-Based Attractants in Preventing the Escape of Golden Apple Snails (Pomacea canaliculata) into the Ecosystem

The effectiveness of plant-based attractants was studied using large traps, which attracted relatively more snails in agricultural water drainage ditches and rice-cultivating environments, although their effectiveness in rice fields and lakes was limited. The rate began to rise after three hours of observation. Watermelon peel exhibited the highest apple snail attraction rate (13.8%), followed by potatoes (10.0%), and apple peel (8.8%). These values significantly differed from the attraction rate attributed to papaya leaves (F=3.84; P=0.0387). After 24 h, watermelon peel and apple peel indicated a higher rate of attraction (23.4% and 21.7%, respectively), which were significantly different compared with those of papaya leaves and potatoes (F=9.94; P=0.00455). Large bait traps outperformed funnel traps in capturing golden apple snails and trapped a significant number of snails measuring over 1 cm in size. Watermelon peel was the most effective attractant for a large bait trap, followed by apple peel, potatoes, and papaya leaves. On average, 110 snails were captured in the lure net. However, potatoes, apple peels, and papaya leaves caught an average of 93, 80, and 79 snails, respectively. Among the attractants, the lure effect of the snails was not significantly different. The efficiency of large bait traps in capturing snails, regardless of the plant attractant employed, followed the order: apple peel > watermelon peel and potatoes > papaya leaves > melon > Korean melon. Watermelon peel is highly recommended for farmer use, as well as apple peel and potatoes. Utilizing these snail attractants may contribute positively to developing a safe and environment-friendly integrated pest management strategy.