Effectiveness of Tick Berry (Lantana camara) in Controlling Larger Grain Borer (Prostephanus truncatus) in Stored Maize

Abstract

The larger grain borer, Prostephanus truncatus is a devastating storage pest of maize and cassava which was introduced in Africa from America in the early 1980s through imports of maize. An experiment was carried out to determine the effectiveness of tick berry, Lantana camara in controlling the larger grain borer in stored maize. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design with 6 treatments replicated 3 times. The treatments were; 1 control, 2 Actellic gold, 3. 10g Lantana camara, 4. 7.5g Lantana camara, 5. 5g Lantana camara and 6. 2.5g Lantana camara applied to 200g maize. Significant differences (p<0.001) were observed amongst all treatments with respect to mortality. The highest mortality of 100% was observed in the Actellic gold followed by 83.3% from 10g of Lantana camara at 21days after application. A significant difference (p<0.001) was also noted amongst treatments with respect to frass accumulation which translates to grain damage. At 21 days of observation, the control treatment had the highest grain damage (10.05%) followed by 2.5g Lantana camara (1.70%). No significant differences (p>0.05) were observed between 10g Lantana camara (0.18) and Actellic gold (0). Reproduction was significantly (p<0.001) inhibited by Lantana camara with failure of adults to emerge between day 21 and 42 after removal of adults. The control treatment had the highest number of adults emerging (177) followed by 2.5g Lantana camara (84) at 42 days in storage, no adults emerged in the Actellic gold treatment and no significant differences (p>0.05) were observed between 10g Lantana camara and Actellic gold. Lantana camara effectively controlled P. truncatus and the effectiveness was correlated to concentration and period of exposure. Lantana camara is recommended as a control option against P. truncatus.