- Title
- Farmers’ perceptions of storage pests and the efficacy of Citrus clementina waste products on stored maize
- Creator
- Gumede, Bongumusa Charles
- Description
- Maize weevil is a major economic pest of stored maize in most rural communities. Infestations by this insect pest begins in the field but severe damage occur during storage. This study aims to document smallholder farmers’ knowledge of storage insect pests, their current control practices and assess insecticidal efficacy of Citrus clementina Hort ex Tan leaf and peel powder against maize weevil on stored maize. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 140 smallholder farmers in King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality and Nyandeni Local Municipality under Oliver Reginald Tambo District municipality in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Results indicated that metal tanks tend to be the most preferred (70.28%) storage facility for storing maize and Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky and Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) were the major storage insect pests of maize. Farmers reported managing these pests using chemical pesticide (84.28%) namely aluminium phosphide. To minimize overreliance on synthetic pesticides, there is need to find alternative methods that are safe to supplement this current method. Hence, the current study tested the effectiveness of C. clementina peel and leaf powder as a biopesticide in managing maize weevils on stored maize. The maize grain mixed with different amounts of C. clementina peel and leaf powder in the metal containers were assessed monthly for 5 months by observing grains under the microscope to monitor damage. This was followed by opening the grains to inspect for the presence or absence of any developmental stage of the maize weevil. The C. clementina powder was found to be effective in suppressing the population of emerging maize weevils in maize that was infested in the farm. Thus, the findings of this study indicate that C. clementina could serve as a safer alternative to synthetic insecticides in suppressing emerging S. zeamais in stored maize grains.
- Description
- Degree: M.Science (Zoology)
- Date
- 2024
- Subject
- Posthavest
- Subject
- Smallholder farmers
- Subject
- Citrus clementina
- Subject
- Sitophilus zeamais
- Subject
- Botanical pesticides
- Type
- Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/11260/13452
- Identifier
- vital:78932
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Walter Sisulu University
- Hits: 4
- Visitors: 2
- Downloads: 1
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Gumede, BC. Masters Thesis.pdf | 906 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |