THE ROLE OF NEEM (Azadirachta indica) SEED AND GARLIC (Allium sativum) BULB POWDERS AS BIO-PESTICIDES AGAINST ADULT MAIZE WEEVIL (Sitophilus zeamais Motsch.) IN STORED MAIZE

Post-harvest losses are one of the major causes of food insecurity in the developing world. The present study was planned to investigate the effect of neemseed and garlic bulb powders in control of maize weevil and prolonged storage of maize grains. A 3x3x2 factorial experiment was laid in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) replicated two times. The result indicated that all the treatments had shown high repellence against maize weevil at all amounts of treatments (5, 10, and 15 grams) in the whole durations. However, there was no significant difference among 5, 10, and 15grams for all the treatments including neem seed, garlic, and combination of neem seed and garlic powders. Mean separation for maize weevil mortality rate during 48 days of treatment of maize grain with different amounts of neem seed, garlic and combination of neem seed and garlic powders shown that there was significant mortality rate for each of treatments during 48 days of storage. The highest mean mortality rate was recorded for neem seed powder than for garlic powder, and combinations of neem seed and garlic powders. However, there was no mortality rate of weevils recorded at control(0gm) in all treatments. Maize weevil progeny rate during extended duration of maize grain storage as treated by neem seed, garlic, and combinations of neem- garlic powders indicated the highest progeny emergence rate for control group in all treatments. It can be concluded from the present study that neem and garlic bulb powders could be used as effective insect repellents. Further studies are required to evaluate the effectiveness of neem seed and garlic powders in extended storage period. Further studies are also required to check the effectiveness of repellence activity of neem seed and garlic powders as repellence of foliar insects.