Cowpea
(Vigna unguiculata (L) Walps) is a major legume in many underdeveloped nations
farmed mostly for its grains in Nigeria and West Africa. However, a variety of
storage pests infest the grain, with Callosobruchus maculatus being a
major field pest that causes farmers to suffer unimaginable misery and
significant losses. To evaluate the effectiveness of Aloe barbadensis
leaf powder as a preventive measure against C. maculatus infesting
stored cowpea, laboratory studies were carried out in the Department of Parasitology
and Entomology at a temperature of 28 °C and 80% relative humidity. The
toxicity was carried out at five dosage rates (0.25 g/mL, 0.5 g/mL, 1.0 g/mL,
1.5 g/mL, and 2.0 g/mL) of the test plant powder and (0.12 g/mL) standard
alpha-cypermethrin and a (0.0g/mL) untreated control per 50g of cowpea grains.
Ten adults of one-two days old C. maculatus was introduced into each
vial, and the experiment was set up in a completely randomized design of five
treatments replicated three times. The responses of C. maculatus to the
insecticides and damage assessments were based on percentage adult mortality,
oviposition, F1 emergence, percentage seed damage, and percentage
weight loss. The result showed that the plant contains alkaloids, flavonoids,
tannins, cardiac glycosides, saponins, and cyanogenic glycosides in different
levels of concentrations. Of the six phytochemicals evaluated, Tannins had the
highest concentration followed by flavonoid, saponin, cardiac glycoside,
cyanogenic glycoside, and alkaloid. Also, tannins were present in the highest
amount (92.62mg/100g) of the phytochemicals analyzed followed by flavonoid
(29.26mg/100g), saponins (17.53mg/100g), cardiac glycosides (14.65mg/100g),
alkaloid (4.72mg/100g), and cyanogenic glycoside (2.35mg/100g). The highest
dosage of 2.0g/mL A. barbadensis powder extract caused a mortality of
93.3% while 0.25g/mL caused 40% mortality respectively. Also, mortality was
time-dependent. The recorded death rate was 4% at 24 hours of exposure, and it
rose to 75.7% over 168 hours. This was a substantial difference, nevertheless
(P<0.05). The LD50 and LD90 of the leaf powder
extracts were calculated as 0.34g/mL and 1.72g/mL, respectively, after the
probit values were regressed and plotted against log dosage. A straight line and
regression coefficient, R2= 0.9923, were also obtained from this process. Also,
regression co-efficient for time, R2= 0.9149 was obtained from which
LT50 and LT90 of the leaf’s extract was determined as
(128.02 hours and 414.45 hours) respectively. Additionally, there was a
significant difference (P < 0.05) in the mean oviposition on seeds treated
with the various doses of the test plants compared to the untreated control.
For the plant leaf extracts, the mean F1 progeny that emerged on
seeds treated with 2.0g/ml was lower (18.3) than the control (72.0). The
treatment dosages of 2.0g/ml (18.3) and 0.25g/ml (30.6) differed significantly
(P < 0.05). There are significant differences (P < 0.05) in the mean
percentages of damaged seeds between the treatments. The highest dosage of the
test plant had the lowest mean percentage seed damage (12.5%) compared to the
control (80.2%) and was significantly different (P < 0.05) between them. The
powder dosages had a notable impact on the reduction of cowpea seed weight loss.
Weight loss was lowest at 2.0g/ml (21.2%) and highest at 1.5g/ml (24%), with a
significant difference (P<0.05) between the two dosages of the test plant.
According to the studies, Aloe barbadensis was successful in lowering
cowpea pest attacks.
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