Effect of wood ash, river sand, mineral oil and dry pepper (Capsicum spp) dust on the population of Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky, 1855) (maize weevil) in maize grain storage

An experiment to evaluate the effect of wood ash, river sand, mineral oil and dry pepper (Capcium spp) dust on the population (control) of Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky, 1855) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) (maize weevil) was conducted. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) consisting of five (5) treatments; 0g, 5g river sand, 5g dry pepper dust, 5g wood ash and 5g mineral oil. All treatment were replicated three times. Data were taken on the number of population of Sitophilus zeamais emerging from individual treatments. Herein, weight loss on grain maize was taken for S. zeamais infestation. The effect of the various treatments on maize seed with S. zeamais was not significant (P>0.05), although the highest population numbers of the weevil was recorded in the control (0g). Zero population of S. zeamais was recorded in wood ash treatment at 5g, which significantly (P