Evaluation of the Pesticide Potential of Tinctures of Selected Medicinal Plants against Maize Weevil (Sitophilus Spp)

:   Mekuria, Altaye

dc.contributor.author	: Mekuria, Altaye
dc.date.accessioned	2018-11-29T05:42:40Z
dc.date.available	2018-11-29T05:42:40Z
dc.date.issued	2018-11-28
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/9220
dc.description.abstract	Storage insect pests destroy food grains in storage. Although effective to control storage pests, synthetic pesticides have limitations like they are not biodegradable and are biomagnifiable, affect non-target organisms, are not environment friendly and they are not always cheap and available. Thus, the need for environmentally sound pest management methods such as cultural, physical, biological and botanical pesticides have been given due attention during the last couple of decades. As a result, botanical pesticides have become viable alternatives for storage pest management. Owing to its altitudinal variations, Ethiopia is one of the richest countries in plant biodiversity many of which may have insecticidal properties. In this study, the insecticidal activity of Allium cepa, Allium sativum and Dregea schimperi tinctures was evaluated against the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais. The treatment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD), with three replications in each plant tincture. Two types of tests were conducted, toxicity test and main insecticidal test. For the toxicity test, tincture doses (1 ml, 1.5 ml and 2 ml) in triplicates were applied to 20 g maize grain followed by addition of 20 weevils in each treatment. Weevil death was observed and recorded at the 6thhour, 12thhour, 24thhour, 48thhour, 72ndhour, 1st week, 2nd week, 3rd week and4thweek.In the main test, 200 g maize grain was added to separate plastic jar. Each three grain containing jar was treated with the 10 ml, 15 ml and 20 ml tinctures of the three plant tinctures, 20 weevils were added, covered with mucilin clothes and left at room temperature for three months. After three months the results are explained as follow. According to the ANOVA the three plants had a significant effect on weight loss (F=19.33, p<0.0001), lowest weight loss observed (0.11%) in grain treated by A. sativum while highest result (6.67%) observed in the control. Plant species and their dose had a significant effect on number of holes (F=13.56, p<0.0001), (F=5.08, p<0.0067) respectively. There was a significant difference between treated and untreated in holes formation. The lowest holes (0.56%) were recorded in grain treated with A. sativum and A. cepa followed by D. schimperi (7.76%) but highest holes (15) were observed in control group. Plants had a significant effect on mortality (F =113.78, p<0.0001especiallyA. cepa and A. sativum recorded highest mortality (97.22%) and (96.67%) receptively. D. schimperi killed 86.67% weevil but the control killed only 28.33%. Plants also had a significant effect on seed germination (F=112.28, p<0.0001). All plants had a negative effect on seed germination especially D.schimperi have 0.00% seed germination.	en_US
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.subject	Biology	en_US
dc.title	Evaluation of the Pesticide Potential of Tinctures of Selected Medicinal Plants against Maize Weevil (Sitophilus Spp)	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US