Objective: Termites are serious pests in West Africa affecting crop production, buildings, books ... more Objective: Termites are serious pests in West Africa affecting crop production, buildings, books and wood conservation. Intensive use of insecticides which is of great environmental and health concerns was the most frequently control option. To make termites management environmentally friendly, there is a need to integrate indigenous knowledge about pest management techniques into the scaling-up process in order to improve farmers’ pest management practices. This paper documents farmers’ knowledge, perceptions and management practices against termites in Greater Accra and Volta Regions of Ghana. Methodology and results: Traditional methods of controlling termites used by farmers, obtained from a survey include application of plant extracts (55.71% of the respondents), dead animals, toads and intestines of rat (42.86%) , physical removal of the queen (64.29%), human urine (55.71%), wood ash (30%), and poultry (60%). These are mainly practiced by small-scale farmers and their efficien...
The study was carried out at the Weija Irrigation Company site at Weija, in the Greater Accra Reg... more The study was carried out at the Weija Irrigation Company site at Weija, in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, to determine the seasonal abundance of the major parasitoid of Plutella xylostella (L.) populations on cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata (L.) during the rainy and the dry seasons. The results indicated that Cotesia plutellae (Kurdjumov) was the most abundant and important parasitoid of P. xylostella on cabbage. It accounted for about 92% of the parasitoids, and occurred in all the three seasons of planting. The rest consisted of four facultative hyperparasitoids: Oomyzus sokolowskii, Aphanogmus reticulatus, Elasmus sp. and a Trichomalopsis sp., and two primary parasitoids, Pediobius sp. and Hockeria s p. A significantly higher rate of parasitism (68.6 ± 12.9%, P < 0.05) of P. xylostella by C. plutellae occurred during the major rainy season and the least (9.9 ± 7.1) in the minor rainy season. Cotesia plutellae acted in a density dependent manner, and its numbers i...
The oil palm leaf miner, C. lameensis is currently the most destructive pest of oil palm in Ghana... more The oil palm leaf miner, C. lameensis is currently the most destructive pest of oil palm in Ghana and other oil palm growing countries in Africa and causes considerable losses in the yield of fresh fruit bunches. Experiments conducted at the Oil Palm Research Institute in Ghana revealed no significant differences (P>0.05) in the duration of the various developmental stages of C. lameensis on five oil palm progenies coded A, B, C, D and E. However, slight variations in the ability of the progenies, to support the development and growth of the oil palm leaf miner were observed. The longest developmental period was on progeny D (100.8 days) and the shortest were on progenies C and E (98.2days). The mean duration of the various development stages were, 18.5 days egg incubation, 46.1 days for larval development, 13.6 days from pupal to external adult and 20.6 days from external adult emergence to egg laying with a total life cycle of 99 days.
ABSTRACT Objective: The susceptibility of four economically important mango varieties (Kent, Keit... more ABSTRACT Objective: The susceptibility of four economically important mango varieties (Kent, Keith, Palmer and Haden) in Ghana to the attack by Bactrocera invadens was assessed through a series of laboratory-based choice and no-choice experiments, as well as some fruit quality parameters. The developmental periods of immature stages of flies in the varieties were also determined. Methodology and results: Susceptibility was determined by counting and comparing the number of puparia recovered from the different varieties after exposure to the flies in cages. Kent was found to be the most susceptible, followed by Palmer, Haden and Keith. Flies took significantly longer periods to complete development on the least susceptible variety (Keith) (25.53 ± 2.3 days), than on the most susceptible variety (Kent) (19 ± 2.3 days). Significant differences (P ˂ 0.05) were also observed in the peel thickness, firmness, Percent Titratable Acidity (% T.A.) and Total Soluble Solids (TSS) of the four va...
Studies were carried out to compare the performance of a commercially available synthetic male pr... more Studies were carried out to compare the performance of a commercially available synthetic male produced aggregation pheromone of the plantain weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus, Germar) and the traditional methods of monitoring, using corm and pseudostem traps in a 2 year old cocoa-plantain intercrop management system. Trap effectiveness was conducted in the field in three seasons (major rainy season, minor rainy season and dry season) from June 2012 to February 2013. The results indicate that all the treatments attracted more insects compared with the control (only pitfall trap). Pheromone traps attracted significantly more adult weevils (68.36%) compared with corm traps (18.13%), and pseudostem traps (13.51%). More females than males were captured in all three trials in the ratio of 2:1, with pheromone traps attracting the highest number of females followed by corm traps and pseudostem traps. Findings in this study suggest that pheromone of the plantain weevil could offer an effective ...
Objective: Termites are serious pests in West Africa affecting crop production, buildings, books ... more Objective: Termites are serious pests in West Africa affecting crop production, buildings, books and wood conservation. Intensive use of insecticides which is of great environmental and health concerns was the most frequently control option. To make termites management environmentally friendly, there is a need to integrate indigenous knowledge about pest management techniques into the scaling-up process in order to improve farmers’ pest management practices. This paper documents farmers’ knowledge, perceptions and management practices against termites in Greater Accra and Volta Regions of Ghana. Methodology and results: Traditional methods of controlling termites used by farmers, obtained from a survey include application of plant extracts (55.71% of the respondents), dead animals, toads and intestines of rat (42.86%) , physical removal of the queen (64.29%), human urine (55.71%), wood ash (30%), and poultry (60%). These are mainly practiced by small-scale farmers and their efficien...
The study was carried out at the Weija Irrigation Company site at Weija, in the Greater Accra Reg... more The study was carried out at the Weija Irrigation Company site at Weija, in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, to determine the seasonal abundance of the major parasitoid of Plutella xylostella (L.) populations on cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata (L.) during the rainy and the dry seasons. The results indicated that Cotesia plutellae (Kurdjumov) was the most abundant and important parasitoid of P. xylostella on cabbage. It accounted for about 92% of the parasitoids, and occurred in all the three seasons of planting. The rest consisted of four facultative hyperparasitoids: Oomyzus sokolowskii, Aphanogmus reticulatus, Elasmus sp. and a Trichomalopsis sp., and two primary parasitoids, Pediobius sp. and Hockeria s p. A significantly higher rate of parasitism (68.6 ± 12.9%, P < 0.05) of P. xylostella by C. plutellae occurred during the major rainy season and the least (9.9 ± 7.1) in the minor rainy season. Cotesia plutellae acted in a density dependent manner, and its numbers i...
The oil palm leaf miner, C. lameensis is currently the most destructive pest of oil palm in Ghana... more The oil palm leaf miner, C. lameensis is currently the most destructive pest of oil palm in Ghana and other oil palm growing countries in Africa and causes considerable losses in the yield of fresh fruit bunches. Experiments conducted at the Oil Palm Research Institute in Ghana revealed no significant differences (P>0.05) in the duration of the various developmental stages of C. lameensis on five oil palm progenies coded A, B, C, D and E. However, slight variations in the ability of the progenies, to support the development and growth of the oil palm leaf miner were observed. The longest developmental period was on progeny D (100.8 days) and the shortest were on progenies C and E (98.2days). The mean duration of the various development stages were, 18.5 days egg incubation, 46.1 days for larval development, 13.6 days from pupal to external adult and 20.6 days from external adult emergence to egg laying with a total life cycle of 99 days.
ABSTRACT Objective: The susceptibility of four economically important mango varieties (Kent, Keit... more ABSTRACT Objective: The susceptibility of four economically important mango varieties (Kent, Keith, Palmer and Haden) in Ghana to the attack by Bactrocera invadens was assessed through a series of laboratory-based choice and no-choice experiments, as well as some fruit quality parameters. The developmental periods of immature stages of flies in the varieties were also determined. Methodology and results: Susceptibility was determined by counting and comparing the number of puparia recovered from the different varieties after exposure to the flies in cages. Kent was found to be the most susceptible, followed by Palmer, Haden and Keith. Flies took significantly longer periods to complete development on the least susceptible variety (Keith) (25.53 ± 2.3 days), than on the most susceptible variety (Kent) (19 ± 2.3 days). Significant differences (P ˂ 0.05) were also observed in the peel thickness, firmness, Percent Titratable Acidity (% T.A.) and Total Soluble Solids (TSS) of the four va...
Studies were carried out to compare the performance of a commercially available synthetic male pr... more Studies were carried out to compare the performance of a commercially available synthetic male produced aggregation pheromone of the plantain weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus, Germar) and the traditional methods of monitoring, using corm and pseudostem traps in a 2 year old cocoa-plantain intercrop management system. Trap effectiveness was conducted in the field in three seasons (major rainy season, minor rainy season and dry season) from June 2012 to February 2013. The results indicate that all the treatments attracted more insects compared with the control (only pitfall trap). Pheromone traps attracted significantly more adult weevils (68.36%) compared with corm traps (18.13%), and pseudostem traps (13.51%). More females than males were captured in all three trials in the ratio of 2:1, with pheromone traps attracting the highest number of females followed by corm traps and pseudostem traps. Findings in this study suggest that pheromone of the plantain weevil could offer an effective ...
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