The study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of neem and wood ash for the control of insect pests infesting three vegetables in the gardening; okra, spinach and sorrel. The plants were sown in a randomize complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Treatment application starts immediately after germination and continued on 3 days interval. Parameters observed were number of damages and number of insect infestation. These were noted after 6 and 9 weeks of germination. Data collected was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results revealed that there was a significant difference (P>0.05) in the number of damages as well as number of insect pests encountered. Wood ash proved to be more effective in protecting the vegetables against insect pests, since it recorded significant minimum activities of insect pests. Therefore, botanicals such as neem and wood ash could be considered as an effective in alternative method of pest management. The use of biopesticides generally is encouraged since they can proffer solution of controlling insect pest without any environmental concern.
The effect of plant oil treatments extracted from Khaya ivorensis and Azadirachta indica was evaluated on adult maize weevils Sitophilus zeamais reared on maize grain. Four replicates of each treatment oils were constituted at 0% (control untreated), 1 ml, 2 ml, and 3 ml doses. Each of the pytochemical oil and the synthetic chemical (Daksh-Dichlorvos 100% EC w/v) was introduced into experimental jars (300 cm 3 ) at graded levels, before 20 g of clean maize grain was incorporated. The treatment oils were separated from the grains with perforated white paper, before 10 newly emerged adult S. zeamais was added to the experimental jars including the control (untreated) experiment, which contain 20 g of maize grain but no treatment was added. The plant oils were evaluated for their toxic effect on S. zeamais, oviposition, F1 progeny emergence, grain damage and weight loss. Data collected were analyzed using ANOVA. The means were separated using LSD at P>0.05.The results revealed that treatment oils were toxic to the maize weevils when compared with the control (untreated) experiment. Among the plants, essential oil of K. ivorensis significantly (P>0.05) suppressed egg laying, F1 progeny emergence and grain damage. Therefore, the essential oil of K. ivorensis and A. indica is useful in the control of S. zeamais.
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