Poultry Science Florida Agricultural
Mimeograph Series No. PY65-2 Experiment Station
200 copies Gainesville, Florida
May, 1965


EFFECT OF ALLDANE* ON EGG PRODUCTION

W. H. Cake, R. H. Harms and P. W. Waldroup1


It has been indicated by the manufacturers of Alldane* that their product,
if proven successful, might receive widespread use as a poultry insecticide.
Because this is a relatively new product, no information is available concerning
its use and efficacy. Alldane is a combination of Aldrin, 11.8%, and Chlordane,
11.2%, as its active ingredients.

Aldrin is a naphthalene compound which has been found effective against
the fowl tick. It is highly toxic to poultry as well as to humans, and Barger
et al. (1958) reported that it must be used with care. Skin contact, inhalation
and food contact should be avoided. Tests carried out by Anderson et al. (1952)
showed that all ingested levels above 3 ppm. depressed growth in young turkeys
and 25 ppm. were highly toxic. Lehman (1949) stated that aldrin is readily
absorbed through the skin.

Chlordane, a mixture of several chlorinated compounds, was found to be
highly toxic to turkey poults when used as a 2% spray (Moore and Carter, 1954).
Lehman (1950) reported that chlordane is four times as toxic as DDT. He found
that the chlorine content of the insecticide had little correlation to its
biological activity.

Previous reports dealing with these newer insecticides used or considered
for control of fowl parasites include the following: Arant (1952), Turner and
Eden (1952), Rosenberg and Tanaka (1950), Quigley (1951), Rosenberg and Adler
(1950) and Fairchild and Dahm (1955).

None of the above reports gave any indication as to the effect of these
ingredients on egg production. All were concerned with toxicity. The exper-
iment reported herein was designed to test the effect of Alldane on egg
production, mortality and egg weight.


MATERIALS AND METHODS

Thirty light weight egg production type hens were randomized into individual
wire cages in a randomized block design, with two replicates of 5 hens each per
treatment. They were placed on the University of Florida standard laying feed.

The hens were divided into three treatment groups. One was not treated
(control). The second group was sprayed until dripping with a one part Alldane
/



SRegistered Trademark.

1 Cake, Vo-Ag. teacher, Buchholz Jr. High School, Gainesville, Florida; Harms,
Nutritionist and Head of Department; Waldroup, Research Associate.






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to sixty parts water solution. The third group of ten birds were dipped in the
same mixture. Care was taken in both instances to keep the solution or spray
away from the head. The one to sixty concentration was recommended on the
container by the manufacturer.

An individual record was kept on egg numbers and size for the next eleven
days. This experiment did not concern itself with the external parasite
population.


RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Egg production and egg size of the two treatments and control groups was
compared after the eleven-day experimental period. No significant differences
in egg production of the sprayed group and the control group was found. Like-
wise, the differences of the sprayed and dipped groups was not significant.
However, there was a definite significant difference in the egg production of
the dipped group and that of the control group (Table 1).

There was no significant difference observed in the comparison of egg
size in the three treatment groups although there was a difference in the size
between the sprayed and dipped groups with the sprayed producing eggs 4.2
grams larger. This was probably because the egg size of the birds randomly
assigned was slightly larger before the experiment than that of the control
and dipped treatments.

There was no mortality in any group and no adverse effects on the: health
of any bird observed.


SUMMARY

Results of this experiment conducted with thirty light weight egg production
type hens show that there is a definite detrimental effect on egg production
when the hen is dipped in a 1:60 mixture of the insecticide Alldane. However,
the use of this material as a spray produced no significant detrimental effect
on egg production. The treatments did not significantly affect livability or
egg size.

Any product used to control parasites in poultry should be used only on
the recommendation of the manufacturer and according to the directions listed.










REFERENCES



Anderson, R. W., R. M. Blakely and H. I. MacGregor, 1952. The toxicity
of aldrin for growing turkeys. Sci. Agr. 32:586-591.

Arant, F. S., 1952. Toxicity of aldrin to chickens. Journ. Econ. Ent.
45(1):121.

Barger, E. H., L. E. Card and B. S. Pomeroy, 1958. Diseases and Parasites
of Poultry, p. 310.

Eden, W. G., and H. F. Turner, 1952. Toxicity of chlordane to chicks.
Jour. Econ. Ent. 45(1):130.

Fairchild, H. E., and P. A. Dahm, 1955. Lice control on Chickens with
chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides. Jour. Econ. Ent., 48(2):130.

Lehman, A. J., 1950. Proceedings, 54th Annual Conference of Food and Drug
Officials of the United States. Galveston, Texas.

Lehman, A. J., 1949. Pharmacological consideration of insecticides.
Association of Food and Drug Officials of the U.S. XIII (2):65-70.

Moore, E. N., and R. D. Carter, 1954. Toxicity of chlordane to turkey
poults. Poultry Sci. 33:654-655.

Quigley, G. D., 1951. Chlordane for poultry lice. Maryland Poultry
Yearbook 1951: 41.

Rosenberg, M. M., and H. E. Adler, 1950. Comparative toxicity of DDT
and chlordane to young chicks. Amer. Jour. Vet. Res. 11(38):142-44.

Rosenberg, M. M., and T. Tanaka, 1950. Toxicity of chlordane to growing
chicks. Amer. Jour. Vet. Res. 11(30):233-35.




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Table 1. Performance of egg production type
hens treated with Alldane.


Treatment


Dipped


Sprayed


Control


Eggs/hen


6.3ab


8.1b


Egg Weight (grams)*


59.3c


57.9c


SMeans having the same superscript do not differ


significantly (P= 0.05).