Devitalising bird-seed to prevent dispersal of weeds by birds
Mark Blythman, James Sansom
pp. 31-33
Abstract
The provision of seeds to wild birds is a common practice in Australia. With most of the seeds coming from non-native plants, there is a potential risk of dispersal of weeds. Off-the-shelf bird-seed was treated with heat from a microwave oven or an electric oven to determine the time taken to devitalise the seeds. After treatment, the seeds were allowed to germinate to determine the percentage of devitalisation. No seeds were viable after just 2.5 minutes of heat treatment from either the microwave or electric oven.
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