Abstract
The cowpea beetle ( Callosobruchus maculatus F. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)) is a major pest of stored cowpea, militating against food security in developing countries. The comparative studies of different powders of Heliotropium indicum and Lawsonia inermis leaves in respect to their phytochemical and insecticidal properties against C. maculatus was carried out using Complete Randomised Design (CRD) with 5 treatments (0, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5g/20g cowpea seeds) replicated 3 times under ambient conditions in the Biology Laboratory, Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. The phytochemical screening showed the presence of Tannins, Cardiac glycosides, Saponins, Flavonoid, Steroids, and Terpenoids in both plant powders. Phlobatanins and Anthraquinone was observed to be absent in both plants. While alkaloid was present in L. inermis and absent in H. indicum. The mortality of C. maculatus increased gradually with time of exposure and concentration of plant powders. L. inermis caused 81.14% adult mortality and H. indicum exerted 75% adult mortality at 120h after exposure time. Maximum oviposition deterrence activity was observed with L. inermis powder (54.26%) compared to H. indicum (51.32%). A significant (P 0.05) in reducing infestation and weight loss, respectively. However, L. inermis had higher activity against the test insect pest than H. indicum. Conclusively, both plants have highly useful activity against the pest and therefore can be used in formulating environmental friendly phyto-insecticide.
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