ESENAM AKOSUA BONSU

79 Pages·2016·1.2 MB·English

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

EFFECT OF NEEM (AZADIRACTA INDICA A. JUSS) EXTRACT OF
DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF INSECT
PESTS OF GARDEN EGGS (SOLANUM MELONGENA) IN BIRIM
CENTRAL MUNICIPALITY IN THE EASTERN REGION OF GHANA

BY

ESENAM AKOSUA BONSU
(B. Sc AGRICULTURE)

THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THEORETICAL
AND APPLIED BIOLOGY KNUST KUMASI, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MASTERS OF SCIENCE
DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

DECEMBER, 2015
DECLARATION
I do hereby declare that this thesis is my own work towards the award of Msc.
Environmental Science. And that to the best of my knowledge, it contains no
materials previously published by another person or materials which has been
accepted for the award of any degree of the university except where due
acknowledgment has been made in the text.

ESENAM AKOSUA BONSU (PG8284612) ……………………… …………….
(Student) Signature Date

Certified by:
DR. J. I. ADAMS ………………………………………… ………….....
(Supervisor) Signature Date

Certified by:
DR. M. G. ADDO …………………………………………… ………….....
(Head of Department) Signature Date

ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Adams for his immense
support, guidance, corrections and encouragement which enabled me to successfully
complete this thesis. I am also grateful to all the other lecturers of the Department of
Environmental Science who contributed in diverse ways to make my study in the
university a successful one.

I will like to thank all the national service persons of MOFA Birim Central Municipal
who helped in the collection of relevant information for this study.

I will also like to acknowledge the effort and support of my husband, Mr. Eric
Datsomor who stood strongly behind me in all the difficulties and challenges that
came my way during my university education.

I am also grateful to my sisters especially, Patience Setorwu Bonsu who took care of
my children when I was pursuing this programme as well as my parents Mr. and Mrs.
Seth Bonsu.

iii
DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my lovely son Sergio Selikem Yao Datstomor and
wonderful daughters Sasha Senam Sika Datsomor and Selma Sesime Datsomor whom
I denied motherly care during my programme. God richly bless them.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION ...................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................... iii
DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ iv
TABLE OF CONTENT ............................................................................................ v
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. viii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. ix
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. x

CHAPTER ONE ..................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1
1.1Background ......................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Problem Statement ............................................................................................. 6
1.3. Justification........................................................................................................ 8
1.4. Main Objective .................................................................................................. 8
1.5. Specific Objectives ............................................................................................ 8

CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................. 10
LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 10
2.1Pesticides Use .................................................................................................... 10
2.1.1Prevalence of pesticides poisoning .................................................................. 10
2.2 Botanical Pest Control ...................................................................................... 11
2.3 Neem Use and Potential in Agriculture ............................................................ 12
2.4 Neem in Pest Management ............................................................................... 14
2.4.1 Action of Neem on Insect Pest ....................................................................... 15
2.4.2 Neem against Non-Insect Pests ...................................................................... 17
2.5 Cultivation of Garden egg ................................................................................. 17
2.6 Garden egg plant growth stages ......................................................................... 18
2.8 Major Insect Pests of Garden Egg and their damage symptoms ......................... 19
2.8.1 Eggplant fruit and shoot borer (EFSB) Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee
(Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) ................................................................................... 19
2.8.2 Leafhopper, Amrasca devastans (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) ............................ 21
2.8.3 Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) ...................... 21
2.8.4 Thrips, Thrips palmi Karny, (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) .................................. 22
2.8.5 Spotted beetles, Epilachna dodecastigma (Wiedemann) and E.
vigintioctopunctata Fabricius (Coleoptera: ........................................................ 23
2.8.6 Leaf roller, Eublemma olivacea Walker ( ....................................................... 23
v
2.8.7 Red spider mite .............................................................................................. 24
2.9 Management of Insect Pests of Garden Egg Plants ............................................ 24
2.9.1 Botanicals as Insecticides (extracted from plants) ........................................... 24

CHAPTER THREE .............................................................................................. 26
MATERIALS AND METHODS .......................................................................... 26
3.1. Study Area ....................................................................................................... 26
3.2. Relief and Drainage and Vegetation ................................................................. 27
3.3. Climate ............................................................................................................ 28
3.4 Experimental design .......................................................................................... 29
3.5. Materials .......................................................................................................... 29
3.6. Experimental plot preparation .......................................................................... 30
3.7 Methods ............................................................................................................ 31
3.7. 1 Nursing of seed ............................................................................................. 31
3.7.2. Transplanting ................................................................................................ 31
3.7.3 Preparation of neem leaf water extract ............................................................ 32
3.7.4 Application of neem leaf water extract and monitoring ................................... 32
3.11 Parameters studied and data collection ............................................................ 32
3.11.1 Insect pest .................................................................................................... 33
3.11.2. Leaf damaged .............................................................................................. 33
3.11.3 Plant height .................................................................................................. 33
3.11.4. Fruit damaged ............................................................................................. 34
3.11.5 Mean Weight of fruit ................................................................................... 34
3.11.6 Projected yield ............................................................................................. 34
3.12. Statistical Analysis ......................................................................................... 35

CHAPTER FOUR ................................................................................................ 36
RESULTS.............................................................................................................. 36
4.1 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on insect pest
infestation on garden egg leaves. ...................................................................... 36
4.2 Insects species observed and their numbers on the garden egg plants during the
study are listed in Table 4.1. ............................................................................. 37
4.3 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on mean ............... 38
number of leaves of the garden egg plant. ......................................................... 38
4.4 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on garden egg ...... 39
plant height. ...................................................................................................... 39
4.5 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on mean ............... 40
number of fruits per garden egg plant fruits. ..................................................... 40
vi
4.6 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf extract on mean number of........ 41
fruit damage per garden egg plant. .................................................................... 41
4.7 Effect of neem leaf water extract on flowering of garden egg plant ................... 41
4.8 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on mean fruit ....... 42
weight at harvest. .............................................................................................. 42
4.9 Projected fruit weight (yield) per acre. .............................................................. 43

CHATER FIVE .................................................................................................... 45
DISCUSSIONS ..................................................................................................... 45
5.1 Insect Pest Observed in the Field ....................................................................... 45
5.2 Effect of neem extract treatments on numbers of Insect pests of egg plant ......... 46
5.3 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on insect pests ...... 46
5.4 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on mean number of
leaves of the garden egg plant. .......................................................................... 47
5.5 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf extract on garden egg plant
height ............................................................................................................... 48
5.6 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf extract on mean number of fruits
per garden egg plant. ........................................................................................ 49
5.7 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on mean number of
fruit loss per garden egg plant. .......................................................................... 50
5.8 Effect of neem leaf water extract on flowering of garden egg plant ................... 50
5.9 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf extract on mean fruit weight at
harvest. ............................................................................................................. 51
6.0 Projected fruit weight (yield) per acre. .............................................................. 52

CHAPTER SIX ..................................................................................................... 54
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .................................................... 54
Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 54
Recommendation .................................................................................................... 54
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 56
APPENDIX ............................................................................................................ 64

vii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Plots labelled ............................................................................................ 31
Table 4.1 Effect of neem extract treatments on mean numbers of insect pests of egg
plant ........................................................................................................................ 37
Table 4.2 Effect of neem leaf extract garden eggs on flowering ............................... 42

viii
LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 3.1 Map showing the study Site (arrowed) ........................................................ 26
Figure 3.2 Map Showing Birim Central Municipality (the study area)...................... 27
Figure 4.1 Effect of neem leaf extract on insect pests infestation on garden egg ....... 36
leaves. ..................................................................................................................... 36
Figure 4.2 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf water extract on mean ..... 38
number of leaves of the garden egg. ......................................................................... 38
Figure 4.3 Effect of neem leaf water extract on plant height ..................................... 39
Figure 4.4 Effect of different concentrations of neem leaf extract on mean .............. 40
number of fruits per garden egg plant....................................................................... 40
Figure 4.5 Effect of neem leaf water extract on fruit damage per plant ..................... 41
Figure 4.6 Effect of neem leaf water extract on fruit weight at harvest ..................... 43
Figure 4.7. Projected fruit weight (yield) per acre .................................................... 44

ix
ABSTRACT
Garden egg (Solanum melongena), is a specie which has wide distribution throughout
tropical Africa. It is an important solanaceous vegetable crop in Ghana. However,
pests particularly insects, continue to ravage crops and without proper protection
systems, farmers continue to lose most of their produce. Pest control, as practiced in
most developing countries relies mainly on the use of synthetic insecticides. Natural
or botanical insecticides serve as the best alternative to synthetic insecticides. The aim
of the study was to determine the effect of neem leaf water extract of different
concentrations in the management of insect pests of garden eggs (Solanum
melongena). The experimental design used in the study was Randomized Complete
Block Design (RCBD) with five treatments and three replications. Data was collected
on the following parameters; plant height, fruit weight, fruit and leaf damage, insect
pests, flowering and yield. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive
statistics and ANOVA. The descriptive statistics was used to find the mean of the
various parameters. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to analyze the
data to determine the significant differences between the various treatments in the
study. Means of the results on the parameters were used to construct tables and bar
charts to show the trends of results of the study. Effect of neem leaf water extract was
observed for insect pests that infested the garden eggplant for the different treatments,
fruit weight, plant height and flowering. In addition, plant growth and yield were also
observed. Significant differences were recorded for insect infestation on garden egg
leaves among the various treatments and the control. The neem leaf water extract was
found to have profound effect on the growth of the plants. Concentration of 150 g/l
showed the highest leave numbers while 50 g/l concentration of neem leaf water
extract exhibited intermediate high leaf numbers. Fruit weight for 150 g/l and 100 g/l
concentration showed significant difference among the treatments. The most striking
result was with the pest observed in the field, there was no insect found on the 100 g/l
concentration of neem leaf extract treatment which lead to high production of fruits. It
was observed that the 100 g/l concentration produced the highest yield per acre at the
end of the experiment. From the study it was recommended that; firstly, Agricultural
extension should be used as a major channel of communication to farmers to
incorporate the use of neem into their crop production to manage insect pests.
Secondly, the 100 g/l concentration of neem leaf extract must be recommended to
farmers.

x