Insect Pest occurrence on Cultivated Amaranthus Spp in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Amaranthus is one of those rare plants whose leaves are eaten as vegetables and seeds as cereal. Unfortunately, one of the major factors limiting the productivity of Amaranthus is the incidence of insect pests attack. The aim of this study was to determine the insect pest occurrence on cultivated Amaranths in Benin City, Nigeria. The experiment was conducted in the Agricultural farm of University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria. Three varieties of Amaranth were used for this experiment, namely, Amaranthus cruentus (white-seeded), Amaranthus hybridus (red-seeded) and Amaranthus hybridus (black-seeded). The experimental design used was completely randomized design with three replicates, each replicate having nine plots. The result showed the diversity of insect pests associated with Amaranth. Insects found on Amaranth were classified into seven (7) orders, namely Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Orthoptera, Hymenoptera and Mantodea; and eight (8)

Insect Pest Profile of Leaf Amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus L) and Prevention Herbivory Using Oil-Based Extracts of Alium sativum L, Xylopia aethiopica Dunal and Eucalyptus globolus L

“…The study has described the pest profile of leaf amaranth within a single organic agroecosystem, where 63% of the recorded pests were Orthopterans, 25% were Lepidopterans belonging to the Family Crambidae and 13% Coleoptera. The range of pests being reported is among those described in earlier studies in other parts of Southwestern Nigeria [10,11] except the Darkling beetle which has not been widely associated with leaf amaranth. Leaf amaranth pests within a single organic agro-ecological region was evaluated in this study and it is expected that the pest profile of crops in agroecological regions that share resemblances in temperature, humidity, vegetation patterns and cropping systems would be similar.…”

Diversity and abundance of diurnal insects associated with dry season <i>Amaranthus hybridus</i> L. in the University of Ilorin, Nigeria

“…According to Aderolu et al (2013) (Okunlola et al, 2008;Ebert et al, 2011).No adult lepidopetran insect pests were however recorded on A. hybridusin this study though a couple of lepidopteran larvae were collected but failed to develop into adults. Both Ibadan and Benin have bimodal rainfall patterns and are located in the derived guinea savanna and rainforest agro-ecological zones of Nigeria respectively (Aderolu et al, 2013;Ezeh et al, 2015). The difference in the study area's agroecology and the dry season during which the study was conducted may be responsible for the absence of these economically important lepidopteran insect pests on A. hybridus.…”

Organic Mulch Increases Insect Herbivory by the Flea Beetle Species, Disonycha glabrata, on Amaranthus spp.

“…Among the insects reported on Amaranthus spp., those in the families, Agromyzidae (Diptera); Chrysomelidae and Curculionidae (Coleoptera); Blissidae, Cicadellidae, Miridae, Cercopidae, Membracidae, Acanaloniidae, Aphididae, Coreidae, Pentatomidae (Hemiptera); Acrididae (Orthoptera); Hespiridae, Crambidae (Lepidoptera) were found to cause significant damage [30,31,41]. Generally, amaranth pests can be classified into three major groups: defoliators (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), stem and root feeders (Coleoptera: Curculionidae; Lepidoptera: larval stage), and grain feeders (Hemiptera: Coreidae) [23,38,42]. In the present study, the most destructive insect pest observed on amaranth was the defoliator, D. glabrata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).…”

“…Insects vary in their response to different mulches and the sampling methods used [7,23]. Several studies have shown that organic mulches influence the populations levels and diversity of insects [29,47,48].…”