EVALUATION OF BT COWPEA INTERCROP PATTERN WITH MAIZE AND INSECTICIDE SPRAY REGIME IN THE MANAGEMENT OF FLOWERING AND POST FLOWERING PESTS OF COWPEA AT SAMARU, ZARIA

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Date
2021-03
Authors
EHILEGBU, Iheakachi Peace
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Abstract
Two field trials were conducted in the confined fields of the Institute for Agricultural Research, Samaru, Zaria during the cropping season of 2018 to evaluate Bt cowpea/maizeintercrop patternand insecticide spray regimes in the management of flowering and post flowering insect pests of cowpea.Experiment I involvedevaluating two spray regimes on an intercropped Bt Cowpea (IT97KT) with Maize (SAMAZ 27) in a ratio of 2:2, 2:4 Maize/cowpea intercrop and a sole crop of cowpea. The experiment was laid out in split plot design. The number of Cypermethrin sprays were assigned to the main plots while the intercrop pattern was assigned to the sub-plot and the experiment, replicated three times. No significant (p=0.05) difference was observed in the population of insect pests at flowering and post flowering stages of the cowpea forplots of the individual cropping pattern sprayed once at 50% podding and plots that were sprayed twice (at 50% podding and 100% podding), One spray of Cypermethrin reduced insect pest damage and increased grain yield (1,690.9kgha-1) equivalent to two sprays (1,804.5kgha- 1).There was no significant difference between the intercrop and sole crop in insect pest population and damage level caused by Megalurothrips sjostedti and Maruca vitrata.In experiment II theyield advantage of Bt cowpea (IT97KT) over SAMPEA 15 under two spray regimes of neem seed oil using Imidacloprid as check was evaluated. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized block design with three replications. It was observed that SAMPEA 15 suffered significantly (p<0.05) higher Marucaand pod sucking bug damage than the Bt cowpea variety, thus had a lower insignificantly grain yield (1,108.6kgha-1) than IT97KT (1,523.8kgha-1). Significantly lower seed damage index was recorded on IT97KT (9.79) compared to SAMPEA 15 (16.68).It was also observed that two sprays of Imidacloprid carriedout at 50% flowering and 50% podding significantly reduced pod damage by pod sucking bugs by 16.8% when compared to untreated control.Grain yield was higher in plots that received two sprays of Imidacloprid (1,817.8kgha-1) although it was not significantly different from other treatments (one spray of Imidacloprid (1,444.4kgha-1), one spray of neem oil (989.8kgha-1) and two sprays of neem oil (1,218.6kgha-1).
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A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN CROP PROTECTION DEPARTMENT OF CROP PROTECTION, FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
EVALUATION,, BT COWPEA INTERCROP PATTERN,, MAIZE,, INSECTICIDE SPRAY REGIME,, MANAGEMENT,, FLOWERING,, POST FLOWERING PESTS,, COWPEA,, SAMARU,, ZARIA.
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