Brown pepper (Piper guineense) seed powder, used for culinary and medicinal purposes, was evaluated in the laboratory with a conventional storage chemical, actellic 2% dust (Pirimiphos-methyl), as standard, to protect stored cowpea against the cowpea bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus. Four rates of the seed powder were used (2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 g/100 g seed with a control, 0.0 g) while actellic dust was applied at 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 g/100 g seed and 0.0 g/100 g seed as control. Data on percentage mortality, oviposition, adult emergence and seed damage were collected over a six-month period. Weevil perforation indexes (WPI) were estimated with the seed damage data. All data were analysed for variance at P≤0.05. Actellic dust at the lowest dose inflicted adult mortality (90 – 100%) in the first 48 h after treatment and prevented oviposition (95 – 100%) in the first five months of storage compared to the control. The highest rate of Piper guineense application caused mortality of up to 90.0% in 48 h, reduced oviposition (70 – 80%), decreased adult emergence (15.90 to 28.40 insects) as against the control (104.7 – 272.7 insects) and reduced seed damage by 80 % with a WPI of between 33.3 and 10.0 %. Proximate analysis and germination tests indicated that the treatment materials increased the moisture and crude fibre content, decreased crude protein content but had no significant effect on the viability of stored seeds. Organoleptic tests demonstrated that treatment materials had no significant negative effect on taste, odour, texture, appearance and overall acceptability of cooked cowpea seeds after six months of storage. It can be safely concluded that the powdered form of P. guineense seed at the highest doses (5.0 and 10.0 g) gave significant protection of cowpea seeds against the cowpea bruchid, which compared favourably with actellic dust when applied topically.
Study to evaluate the insecticidal efficacy of pyrethrum, Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium, relative to a synthetic insecticide (Cypermethrin 10 E. C) in the control of some field pests of groundnut was carried out at the Teaching and
The influence of plant spacing and intercropping on the growth and septoria leaf spot disease incidence and severity of tomato were studied in Owerri, the south east of Nigeria, in the year 2011.The study was designed as a 4x4 factorial in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three (3) replications. Data on growth parameters and septoria leaf spot disease incidence and severity of tomato were collected and statistically analyzed by using Gensat version 4 analytical software, while the means were separated for difference using Fisher’s Least Significant Difference Protocol. The result showed a significant (P<0.05) reduction of septoria leaf spot disease incidence to 0.00% by intercropping at the distance of 75 x 50 cm under tomato sole cropping arrangement. The intercrop combination of tomato/groundnut/soybean also significantly (P<0.05) reduced septoria leaf spot disease incidence (6.7%) under the spacing of 100 x 75 cm. Intercropping significantly (P<0.05) influenced septoria leaf spot disease severity at 6 weeks of transplanting. Similarly, plant spacing of 75 x 50 cm and under the tomato sole crop arrangement significantly reduced the tomato septoria leaf spot disease severity.
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