• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.371-381
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• 2023

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.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.297-316
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• 2018

The golden apple snail (GAS, Pomacea canaliculata) is an invasive freshwater snail. The GAS was introduced in Korea without prior studies on the possibility of crop damage or its impact on the natural ecosystem. The freshwater apple snails can be found typically in ponds, rice paddies, irrigation canals, roadside ditches or slower portions of streams. In this study, we were carried out to investigate the assessment of physiological and ecological characteristics, environmental characteristics inhabited area in winter season and cause of massive death at one time of golden apple snails used for weed control in wet rice paddies. The GAS was introduced from Japan to Korea for commercial production as a dietary protein supplement. The golden apple snail was also used a recently for weed control in wet rice cultivation. The species of freshwater Pomacea snails is belonging to the genus Pomacea, family ampulariidae, order mesogastropoda, subclass pulmonata, class gastropoda, phylum mollusca. The GAS spread into irrigation ditches and natural waterways. It is now distributed in ponds and canals near rice fields of southern parts of the country and has overwintered. It increases its cold hardiness before winter. However, the physiological mechanism of cold hardiness in molluscs is poorly understood, especially in freshwater molluscs. Our results on physio-ecological characteristics of the Pomacea apple snail showed that the ratio of males to females was 1: 1.99~2.33. The daily growth was 87.7 mg in weight, 0.31 mm in height and 0.33 mm in width of the their shell. On the other hand, the golden apple snails were very high to resistance on drying condition and survived rate about 80% up to 3 months. The inhabitation of GAS was no statistical significant impacts on the water quality. An important property of aqueous solutions is agricultural water quality because it affects chemical and biochemical properties such as chemical reactions, equilibrium conditions, and biological toxicity. The death rate of weed control apple snails by Ostracoda (Stenocypris hislopi) was only 2.86% and 5.71% depending on the density. Therefore, GAS was not a direct death caused by Ostracoda (Stenocypris hislopi).

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: The golden apple snail(GAS, Pomacea canaliculata Lamarck) is an invasive freshwater snail. It has occurred 34 years since the introduction of the GAS to the Korea. The GASs have been used recently for weed control in wet rice cultivation. The GASs'adaptability to the environment of GAS has been improved and the GASs devour the young stage of the crops as well as weeds. METHODS AND RESULTS: We surveyed the survival area of the snails throughout the country during the winter seasons from 2000 to 2017 and crop damage due to GASs in 2017. Local maximum, minimum, and average air temperatures were monitored daily. The surveyed regions for the survival of the GASs in winters were Gangjin, Goheung, Shinan, Haenam, Gimhae, Haman, Busan, Jeju, and Seogwipo. The survival durations at low temperatures were 12 hours at $-5^{\circ}C$, 1 day at $-3^{\circ}C$, 2 days at $-1^{\circ}C$, 10 days at $0^{\circ}C$, and over 30 days at $3^{\circ}C$. The eggs of GASs were not able to overwinter. The overwintering condition of the GAS needed a water depth of 10-20 cm with well formed mud. Crop damages caused by the overwintering GASs occurred in rice and water dropwort. CONCLUSION: The overwintering GAS was first identified in Haenam, South Korea 2000 after introduction of the GAS. The overwintering area of GAS expanded to the mid-southern parts of Korea. We propose that it has not yet become a pest to rice or any other crop.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2023

Golden apple snails (Pomacea canaliculat) (GAS) are widely used for weed control in rice cultivation. However, concerns on the ecological risk of invasive GAS species are increasing. This study aimed to evaluate the overall impacts of GAS on weed control, abundance of aquatic animals and insects, and rice yield, in comparison with that from other biocontrol agents such as loach (Misgurnus mizolepis) and catfish (Silurus asotus), which are alternatives for biological weed control in rice paddy cultivation. Field experiments included five treatments; control, herbicide, GAS, loach, and catfish. During the rice growth, weed appearance and biological abundance were monitored, and at harvest, the rice yield was determined. Weed control efficiency was the highest for GAS treatment (100%), followed by that for herbicide (95.8%), loach (57.5%), and catfish treatments (31.7%). Insect abundance was considerably decreased in GAS treatment due to heavy weed removal, which affects the habitat of aquatic animals and insects. The amount of rice yield (unit: kg 10 a^-1) was in the order of GAS (798.9) > loach (708.1) = herbicide (700.7) > catfish (629.4) > control (496.0). Therefore, considering the weed control efficiency, biological abudance, and rice yield, loach could be a potential alternative for biological weed control in organic rice farming. However, the activity of the biocontrol agents are susceptible to environmental conditions; therefore, further studies under different conditions are essential to confirm these findings.