Review Article
Alao Fatai Olaitan and Adebayo
Abstract
Field experiment was conducted during the major raining season of 2006 to evaluate the effectiveness of two plant extracts – Tephrosia vogelii and Petiveria alliacea applied as insecticides singly and as a mixture of the two in ratio 1:1 at three major insect pests – Maruca vitrata (Tab), Megalurothrips sjostedti (try) and Ripotortus dentipes (Fab). Unsprayed and synthetic insecticide (Decis) treated plots were included for comparison. Application of the extracts irrespective of concentrations, significantly suppressed insect pests population, reduced pod damage and increased grain quality compared with control. However, the mixture of the extracts at 20 % concentration competes favourably with synthetic insecticide (Decis). The result further demonstrated that, the effectiveness of the extracts as insecticide was dose-dependent