EFFICACY OF CONCENTRATION LEVELS OF SOME PLANT EXTRACTS ON INSECT PEST INFESTATION, GROWTH AND YIELD OF FLUTED PUMPKIN (Telfairia occidentalis HOOK. F) IN OKIGWE SOUTHEASTERN NIGERIA

Field experiments were carried out at the National Horticultural Research Institute, Mbato Okigwe Out-station, Imo State during the early cropping seasons of 2015 and 2016 to evaluate the efficacy of some ethanol plant leaf extracts of Garlic (Allium sativum) and Neem (Azadirachta indica ) on the insect pests of Telfairia occidentalis. Three levels of concentration of each of the two extracts viz: 50%, 75% and 100% were used. There were eight treatments for each season which were replicated three times in a splt-plot experimental) design. Cypermethrine (12.5% E.C) served as insecticidal check. Result of the studies in 2015 and 2016 cropping seasons showed the identified insect pests of the crop to include Leaf beetle (Podagrica spp), Zonocerus variegatus Aulucephora spp and Fruit flies (Dacus spp.). The result also showed that the three levels of concentration of the active ingredients oleoresin oil and azadirachtin of the tested plant extracts at bi-weekly spraying interval were efficacious in controlling the insect pests. The identified insect pests though constituted a nuisance to the Telfairia leaves by feeding on them but the damage caused was very low or minimal on the plants treated with the active ingredients of the extracts compared with the untreated in both cropping seasons. Also plants treated with100% and 75% concentrations of the active ingredients of A. sativum and A. indica significantly gave more yield in terms of leaf, vine number, pod number and pod weight than other levels of concentration of both plant extracts used in the trial. The efficacy of the cypermethrine was highest for all the parameters considered. The study also revealed that the extracts at higher concentrations of 75% of the active ingredients and above are efficacious and could serve as an alternative in the control of insect pest of Telfairia occidentalis