The efficacy of neem seed oil extract and vegetable oil as insecticides for cowpea–weevil (callosobruchus maculatus) control
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Date
2019-02
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KNUST
Abstract
Callosobruchus maculatus, a major storage insect pest of cowpea, lays its eggs on the pods
or sometimes on the seeds both in the field and in storage. The larva perforates the seeds
and completes its life cycle there. It can cause loss, if not controlled in time. Other pests are
Maruna spp and Laspeyresis spp. Storage pests are controlled by the use of recommended
ii
insecticides, vegetable oils, fumigation or heat treatment to the stored seeds. The objective
of this project was to examine the effect of neem oil treatment on cowpea weevils as an
alternative for preserving cowpea at storage. The experimental design for the study was
Completely Randomized Design with three replications. Data collected included; grain
damage, insect mortality; weight loss and number of survived insects. From the results,
insect mortality was 100% for treated cowpea seed samples compared to the untreated
sample; the control. The results indicated that the control treatment recorded high weight
loss of 110 g, 240 g and 350 g for storage months of 1, 2, and 3 compared to the neem oil
treatment [100:0] recording the lowest of 10 g, 20 g and 30 g for storage months 1, 2, and
3. The control treatment had the significantly highest percentage of seeds with holes of 36.87
%, 69.54 % and 94.67 % for storage months 1, 2, and 3 compared to the neem oil treatment
which recorded 11.09 % 11.10 % and 11.16 % for storage months 1, 2, and 3 respectively.
Study concluded that neem seed oil should be used to store cowpea grains to reduce weevil
infestation.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the School Of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science And Technology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the MPhil Postharvest Technology Degree