Hazards of secondary bromadiolone intoxications evaluated using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

Abstract

This study reported on the possibility of intoxications of non-target wild animals associated with use of bromadiolone as the active component of rodenticides with anticoagulation effects. A laboratory test was done with earthworms were exposed to bromadiolone-containing granules under the conditions specified in the modified OECD 207 guideline. No mortality of earthworms was observed during the fourteen days long exposure. When the earthworms from the above test became a part of the diet of common voles in the following experiment, no mortality of consumers was observed too. However, electrochemical analysis revealed higher levels of bromadiolone in tissues from earthworms as well as common voles compared to control animals. There were determined comparable levels of bromadiolone in the liver tissue of common voles after primary (2.34 +/- 0.10 mu g/g) and secondary (2.20 +/- 0.53 mu g/g) intoxication. Therefore, the risk of secondary intoxication of small mammalian species feeding on bromadiolone-containing earthworms is the same as of primary intoxication through baited granules. Bromadiolone bio- accumulation in the food chain was monitored using the newly developed analytical procedure based on the use of a liquid chromatography coupled with electrochemical detector (HPLC-ED). The HPLC-ED method allowed to determine the levels of bromadiolone in biological samples and is therefore suitable for examining the environmental hazards of this substance.