Fabrication And Evaluation Of A Probe Trap For Monitoring Cowpea Weevil (Callosobruchus Maculatus) Infesting Stored Cowpea

📄 Project Abstract

Farmers are faced with a lot of problem in monitoring insect pests of stored cowpea. The standard probe trap is used to monitor C. maculatus infestations in stored cowpea but it is not efficient in trapping the insect due to variation in atmospheric conditions leading to inappropriate management decisions regarding the action threshold. Its perforation size (3 mm) is specific to C. maculatus which cannot be used for other larger bruchids like C. subinotatus, infecting cowpea. A research was carried out in the Entomology Laboratory of Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute, Kano, Nigeria, between March and October 2016, to examine the possibility of incorporating light into a locally fabricated probe trap, with the aim of developing an improved trap for detecting bean weevil. Six different colour lighted probe traps were evaluated, together with a control and a standard trap in order to determine the performance of respective trap in the detection of cowpea weevils. Each treatment ...