Ant Damage to Microsprinkler Pulsator Assemblies

A field experiment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of two microsprinkler pulsator designs in preventing ant damage to the assemblies. The original pulsator case design used 2.5 mm (0.10 in.) diameter circular vent holes located near the top and bottom of the case. The alternative case design (ant-bar) had four pairs of vent slots which had a width of 0.4 mm (0.015 in.). The assemblies were placed around mounds of imported red fire ant in a citrus grove in South Florida for a period of 13.5 months. Over 85% of the units with the circular vent design suffered some type of damage as compared to only 41% of the units with the ant-bar vent design. The average damage rating of the circular vent units was 1.3, more than three times the 0.4 average rating for the ant-bar units. The ant bar vent design was effective at preventing moderate and severe damage to the silicon diaphragms, with none of the ant-bar units damaged enough to cause failure of the unit.