Abstract
Amaranthus species is one of the plants often considered as the most important green leaf vegetable in Nigeria and other countries. Its production has been plagued with an array of factors including incidence of insect pest. This experiment took place in Agricultural farm of University of Benin, Edo state Nigeria from February to April 2013 and 2014. The aim was to investigate the effect of Nutrient and Variety on Insect Pest infestation of Amaranthus spp. The experimental design used was completely randomized design with three replicates comprising a factorial combination of three types of Soil and three varieties of Amaranth. The result showed that Amaranthus cruentus suffered more insect pest attack than other Amaranthus used and that Amaranths planted on poultry manure attracted more insect pests than Amaranths planted on other Nutrients. These results can be employed as part of cultural control methods in the management of insect pests of Amaranths.
Highlights
Amaranthus or pigweed belongs to the family Amaranthaceae
In Nigeria insect pest infestations are the most important constraint to production of amaranths and one of the primary causes of low quality and yields, from the results of the survey conducted by Aderolu et al 2013 in the southern part of Nigeria, sixty insect species associated with Amaranth crop were determined; of these the species with the major presence level on the foliage were Hymenia recurvalis, Sylepta derogata, followed by the borers group, curculionids and the white grubs
The means were separated with the Least Significance Difference (LSD) method described by Steel et al, (1997)
Summary
Amaranthus or pigweed belongs to the family Amaranthaceae. Approximately 60 species of Amaranthus are presently recognized (Dorling 2008). Kigali et al 2013: in their study on insect species occurring in cultivated amaranth in Meru country, Kenya concluded that the pest causing significant yield loss are coreid bug’s (Cletus spp) which attacks the grain, Amaranth weevils (Hypolixus nubilosus) which causes damage on stems and leaves and webworm (Herpetogramma bipunctalis) which attacks the stems and leaves. In Nigeria insect pest infestations are the most important constraint to production of amaranths and one of the primary causes of low quality and yields, from the results of the survey conducted by Aderolu et al 2013 in the southern part of Nigeria, sixty insect species associated with Amaranth crop were determined; of these the species with the major presence level on the foliage were Hymenia recurvalis, Sylepta derogata, followed by the borers group, curculionids and the white grubs. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of Variety and Nutrient on Insect Pest Infestation of Amaranthus spp
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