Bioprospecting of some indigenous plant bio-active materials for sustainable management of stored maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais Mostch. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Bioprospecting of some indigenous plant bio-active materials for sustainable management of stored maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais Mostch. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Bioprospecting of some indigenous plant bio-active materials for sustainable management of stored maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais Mostch. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Tange Denis Achiri, Mamudou Jallow, Oben Tom Tabi, Manju Evelyne Bi Tima, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7554844/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Stored maize (Zea mays) is jeopardized by maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais, resulting to recorded losses between 20% - 90%. Botanicals have emerged as promising alternatives to synthetic pesticides for the control of maize weevil due to their bio-insecticidal properties and minimal to zero impact on humans and the environment. In line with this, this research was conducted to evaluate the insecticidal properties of some botanicals (Tithonia diversifolia, Senna alata, Chromolaena odorataand Eucalyptus grandis) leaf powders on maize weevil. Uninfested maize grains where obtain from a local market in Buea, Southwest region of Cameroon and plant powders were obtained from ground leaves of these botanicals. In 2023, a laboratory study was conducted using completely randomized design with three replicates to evaluate the insecticidal activity of these botanicals with untreated control. All botanicals significantly reduced the number of F1 emerging when compared to the control. The number of F1 was 5, 5, 7, 7 and 15 for T. diversifolia, C. odorata, E. grandis, S. alata and control, respectively. Hatching reduction (%) followed a similar trend with 66.67%, 64.44%, 55.56% and 53.33% reported from C. odorata, T. diversifolia, E. grandis and S.alata, respectively. Cumulative mortality of maize weevil was 30.0%, 28.33%, 25.0% from C. odorata, T. diversifolia, and E. grandis respectively, which were statistically higher than S. alata (1.67%) and the control (1.67%). These plant species represent eco-friendly and sustainable alternatives for maize weevil management especially for resource-constraint farmers in developing countries in line with Sustainable Development Goals. Maize weevil botanicals insecticides siam weed tithonia eucalyptus SDG Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7554844","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":542128237,"identity":"b5c61ed5-4ba9-41e5-9291-b4c298bdea06","order_by":0,"name":"Tange Denis 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Botanicals have emerged as promising alternatives to synthetic pesticides for the control of maize weevil due to their bio-insecticidal properties and minimal to zero impact on humans and the environment.\nIn line with this, this research was conducted to evaluate the insecticidal properties of some botanicals (Tithonia diversifolia, Senna alata, Chromolaena odorataand Eucalyptus grandis) leaf powders on maize weevil. Uninfested maize grains where obtain from a local market in Buea, Southwest region of Cameroon and plant powders were obtained from ground leaves of these botanicals. In 2023, a laboratory study was conducted using completely randomized design with three replicates to evaluate the insecticidal activity of these botanicals with untreated control. All botanicals significantly reduced the number of F1 emerging when compared to the control. The number of F1 was 5, 5, 7, 7 and 15 for T. diversifolia, C. odorata, E. grandis, S. alata and control, respectively. Hatching reduction (%) followed a similar trend with 66.67%, 64.44%, 55.56% and 53.33% reported from C. odorata, T. diversifolia, E. grandis and S.alata, respectively. Cumulative mortality of maize weevil was 30.0%, 28.33%, 25.0% from C. odorata, T. diversifolia, and E. grandis respectively, which were statistically higher than S. alata (1.67%) and the control (1.67%). These plant species represent eco-friendly and sustainable alternatives for maize weevil management especially for resource-constraint farmers in developing countries in line with Sustainable Development Goals.","manuscriptTitle":"Bioprospecting of some indigenous plant bio-active materials for sustainable management of stored maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais Mostch. 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