Abstract
Studies were carried out to determine the efficacy of three spices (Allium sativum L., Capsicum frutescens L., and Zingiber officinale Rosc.) against S. zeamais reared on sorghum grains. Doses of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g of each of A. sativum, C. frutescens and Z. officinale and 0.12 g of permethrin were applied to 20 g of sorghum grains infested with S. zeamais under constant conditions of 30 ± 2°C and 65 ± 5% R.H. In all the treatments, 100% mortality among adult of S. zeamais reared on sorghu treated with all the powders was obtained. The effect of the spices on adult mortality was significant (p<0.05) between the powdered spices and the control. The effect of the different spices applied at varying amounts on grain damage caused by S. zeamais was significantly (p<0.05) different with the highest (33.30%) in petri dishes with 1.5 g of C. frutescens and the least (3.30%) from treatments of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g of Z. officinale and C. frutescens, respectively. The findings of this study indicated that the selected spices showed their potentiality in reducing sorghum grain damage caused by S. zeamais. Key words: Allium sativum, Capsicum frutescens, Protectants, Sitophilus zeamais, Sorghum grain, Zingiber officinale.
Highlights
Sorghum is the primary food crop in virtually all parts of northern Nigeria (USDA, 2010)
This study describes laboratory bioassays to evaluate the efficacies of three local spices; Allium sativum (L.), Capsicum frutescens (L.) and Zingiber officinale (Rosc.) as possible stored sorghum grains protectants against S. zeamais in the tropics
Frutescens and 0.5 g and 1.5 g of Z. officinale respectively, while the highest grain damage (33.3%) was obtained from sorghum grains treated with 1.5 g of C. frutescens
Summary
Sorghum is the primary food crop in virtually all parts of northern Nigeria (USDA, 2010). The whole grain may be ground into flour or decorticated before grinding to produce either a fine particle product or flour, which is used in various traditional foods (Leder, 2004). The loss of food grain during storage due to various insect pests is a very serious problem. Especially in the tropic countries like Nigeria, are often highly favourable for insect growth and development, which leads to their damages to the stored grains that ranges from 5 to 30% of the world’s total agricultural production (Pugazhvendan et al, 2009). The losses incurred through insect damage in store, is estimated to be in the region of 35% of total production (NAERLS, 2002)
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