Pest disturbance in edible bird nest swiftlet house

Abstract

Many entrepreneurs are very interested to start Edible Bird Nest (EBN) production. However, many of them lack knowledge in pest distrubance in swiftlet house. They suffered losses because they are not concerned about pest disturbance in swiftlet house. This study aimed to identify pest in swiftlet house and to establish pest distrubance in swiftlet house. This research was conducted through field study. Field studies were conducted in nine swiftlet houses from three different areas namely, town, coastal and forested areas. Based on the field study, ants were the biggest pest problem in EBN swiftlet houses where about 69 observations of the houses were infested with the insects at one point or another. Cockroaches were the second biggest problem with 30 observations of the houses infested and rats were found in 18 observations of the houses. Pest disturbance in swiftlet house was the main cause of failure in the swiftlet ranching business. The results showed that there are no significant difference between pest disturbance in swiftlet house with location of swiftlet house. In the management of swiftlet houses, less pest disturbance can be assured to be productive and profitable ranching venture swiflet.