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Insecticidal Potential of Some Plant Extracts and Synthetic Dusts for Control of Sitophilus zeamais (Motscholsky) Infesting Maize Seeds
Abstract
Some bio-pesticides were evaluated for the management of ginger leaf spot caused by Phyllosticta zingberi. The experiment was conducted at the laboratory and screen house of National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike during cropping seasons of 2020 and 2021. The objective of the study was to determine the most effective bio-fungicide used in the control of phyllosticta zingberi infecting ginger rhizomes. All bio-fungicides fungicides (Neem Leaf, Neem and fruit Garlic) used were tested for efficacies against leaf spot disease of ginger caused by phyllosticta spp. at Umudike. The experiment was laid out in complete randomized design (CRD) involving two ginger varieties and three bio-pesticides in three replications. Results for pathogen virulence showed that isolates were virulent and the extracts efficacy results showed that crude Garlic extract treated plates gave a mean growth inhibition of 96.02%, Neem Leaf (91.31%) and Neem fruit (64.27%) were found to be significantly effective (P<0.05) better than control in inhibiting the growth Phyllosticta spp. isolates in the laboratory indicating that garlic bio-pesticide has the highest inhibitory potency across the most of the virulent isolates obtained and treated in the laboratory. Spraying of garlic bio-pesticide twice on ginger plants at 8 and 14 weeks after planting completely prevented leaf spot disease incidence on the treated ginger with a severity score of 1 while spraying of neem seed bio-pesticide twice on ginger plants at 8 and 14 weeks after planting gave the least protection and control of ginger leaf spot disease on ginger with a severity score of 3.