Agronomic performance evaluation of cowpea seeds holed by the cowpea seed bruchids, Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) in the screen house

Abstract

Agronomic performance of Oloyin cowpea seeds holed by Callosobruchus maculatus was evaluated at the Department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. Seeds with emergent holes (1, 2, 3 and 4) and seeds without holes were separately sown in five litre plastic buckets filled with sandy loam soil in the screen house and replicated three times. Data on percentage emergence, number of leaves, number of branches, plant height, plant girth, number of pods, number of seeds per pod, pod length and weight of seeds were collected fortnightly for eight weeks and subjected to analysis of variance. Percentage seedling emergence (20%) obtained from seeds with 4 emergent holes was significantly (p 0.05) affected by the number of emergent holes at 6 and 8 weeks after sowing. Total number and weight of seeds per plot were not significantly different (p>0.05). The study showed that although the agronomic performance of seeds with ≥3 emergent holes was affected during early stage of growth, there were compensatory effects after establishment. Therefore, based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that seeds with ≤4 bruchids emergent holes that are rejected for consumption could be planted instead of total discard.