The effects of plant growth habit (erect versus spreading and flowering pattern) on the resistance of cowpea Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp., to the legume pod borer, Maruca testulalis Geyer, were studied in Nigeria. Five cowpea cultivars of known agronomic and architectural characteristics were selected for the study: TVu 946, IT82D-716, VITA-3, Oloka local and Kamboinse local. Seed and pod damage assessment values were better in profuse flowering than in non-profuse flowering cultivars and in erect cultivars than in spreading cultivars. Best performances were obtained from TVu 946 (profuse flowering and erect resistant), and worst results from Oloka local (spreading susceptible) and VITA-3 (susceptible non-profuse) respectively. Erect and profuse flowering cowpea cultivars are proposed as having good architectural components for reducing M. testulalis damage to cowpea. The implications of architectural variations in cowpea are discussed.

Acanthoplus speiseri Brancsik, a pest of grain crops in Zambia, was reared in the laboratory at different temperatures. Mean development times of the eggs, nymphs and adults were determined at the different temperatures and used to develop a thermal unit model for use by farmers to predict the appearance dates of the different nymphal instars and the adults in the field in a given season. The predictions generated by the developed model for the 1990/1991 season, were compared to the actual dates on which the first specimen of each developmental stage was collected in the field during the season. The predicted dates of appearance all fell within 1 week of the observed dates of collection. Reasons for the slight deviations between the predicted and observed dates and the significance of the developed thermal unit model to the future control of A. speiseri in Zambia, are discussed.

Comparative field studies were conducted during the rainy and dry seasons at the Mbita Point Field Station of ICIPE in southwestern Kenya, to investigate the pattern and rate of dispersal of Aphis craccivora on aphid-resistant (ICV-12) and aphid-susceptible (ICV-1) cowpea cultivars in relation to key weather factors. The effects of the dispersal trends on crop performance and aphid population dynamics were analysed. Treatments consisted of initial aphid releases at the north, south, west, east and centre of test plots and uninfested controls maintained on plants for 22 days. Parameters recorded included: pattern (direction of spread of aphids) and rate (number of aphid-infested plants at a given time) in test plots; crop growth and yields and associated factors such as incidence of sooty mould and plant mortality, and aphid density and associated factors, including the incidence of natural enemy species, particularly coccinellids. Dispersal was fastest when releases were made in the west, north and centre of plots, and resulted in adveVse effects on ICV-1 growth and yields. Infestations of ICV-12 did not significantly affect crop performance. There was an apparent direct, positive relationship between wind direction and pattern of spread of aphid infestations, but this pattern was more apparent during the rainy season, when wind speeds were higher, than during the dry season. The incidence of natural enemy species correlated with the spread of aphid infestations, while the abundance of coccinellids correlated with aphid density.

The use of incompatible males (IM) of (A) mating type to suppress the Iraqi (B) strain of Ephestia cautella, when the release ratio was 80:1:1 (A males: B males: B females, respectively), brought about a highly successful protection of uncovered loose dates against infestation with (B) strain in a simulated date store. Surprisingly the protection effect of IMs lasted for 230 days which commercially covers almost the whole period of date storage.

Since strain A males are believed to compete poorly against wild strain B males, the competitiveness of F1 males was measured in order to determine if they might be promising candidates for subsequent trials of the control of E. cautella by the release of incompatible males.

A total of 2256 germplasm accessions, 3000 advanced generation breeding lines and 150 released varieties of rice were screened under artificial infestation in the greenhouse. Among these, 15 new germplasm accessions, 50 breeding lines derived from 16 crosses and 15 released varieties were resistant. Antibiosis was the predominant resistance mechanism; antixenosis affecting oviposition was noted in 33 resistant varieties. Biochemical composition of a set of resistant varieties along with susceptible checks, revealed that nitrogen content of seven test varieties was significantly higher than that of the susceptible checks, while in other six varieties it was lower than the checks. Similarly, eight of the resistant varieties had considerably higher percentage of polyphenolic compounds in basal stem portion, but seven other cultivars showed significantly lower concentration as compared to susceptible checks. Thus, it was apparent that there was no clear trend among the resistant cultivars as a group in relation to quantitative differences of chemical components analysed.

A new aspirator is proposed for the collection of springtails (Collembola) and other small arthropods. It is hand operated, safe and efficient to use.

A method of formulating granules from an acetone extract fraction of the fruit of Melia volkensii, a Kenyan tree known to possess insecticidal properties, was developed. The granules were tested for toxicity to third and fourth instars of Aedes aegypti L. Some acute physiological effects were observed within 24 hours of adding the granules to water as larval food. A mortality of 95% was achieved on various developmental stages of the mosquito after 12 days, with only 5% adult emergence being recorded.

In south-eastern Uganda the natural hosts of Glossina pallidipes, G. fuscipes fuscipes and G. brevipalpis appear to influence trypanosome infection rates in these vectors. The transmission index of these vectors also differs. Temperature is yet another factor affecting trypanosome infection rates in these tsetses. Other factors probably also form important components in the transmission cycle. In this region of Uganda and its contiguous lake shore area of Kenya there are extant foci of the infections, and man and his symbiotic livestock are exposed to a high challenge of trypanosomiases. Furthermore, in this high endemic/enzootic ecological zone of tropical Africa, the transmission of trypanosome infections to the adventitious hosts, via the tsetse vectors, depends upon a variety of complex interacting factors.

Green marine algae (Codium sp.) was extracted sequentially with different organic solvents on cold. Lima bean leaf discs treated with the different extracts were offered to adult female T. urticae for 96 hr and the corrected percentage mortality of the females was calculated. The toxicity of the different extracts to the eggs was also recorded. Petroleum ether extract of this seaweed was highly toxic to females at 4 g/ml. At 1 g/ml ca. 48% of the individuals were killed. Chloroform and ethyl alcohol extracts were found to be poorly effective against the females even at high concentrations (4 g/ml) where less than 50% of the individuals died after 96 hr. Toxicity of crude extracts to the egg stage was less pronounced and chloroform extract was found to be more efficient than the other extracts tested.

Recent unusual high damage of finger millet Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn. and wheat Triticum spp. by Busseola fusca (Fuller) in Ethiopia prompted the initiation of this study that has involved comparing the host status of these crops with the main host, maize Zea mays. One improved variety and one local land race each of wheat, finger millet and maize were grown with and without fertilizer in a randomized complete block design to evaluate the effect of nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers and varietal differences on the suitability of these host plants for the development of borer larvae. The results indicated that B. fusca larvae managed to survive up to the adult stage in the stems of finger millet and maize, while wheat failed to support larval development to pupation. The stems of fertilizer-treated crops hosted more larvae than those of untreated ones and these were significantly longer and heavier. Improved varieties tended to be more suitable for B. fusca development. Furthermore, irrespective of the crop species, improved varieties grown with fertilizer were more suitable for the development of B. fusca. An improved finger millet variety, KNE No. 1098, grown with fertilizer was as suitable as the improved maize variety A-511, grown without fertilizer. For wheat, however, immature mortality was 100% irrespective of variety and fertilizer level.

Studies were conducted at Mtwapa, in the coastal area of Kenya, during the long and short rains of 1999 and 2000 to evaluate interaction of mortality factors in lowering Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) populations in diverse agroecosystems. Treatments consisted of hedgerows of leucaena only, gliricidia only, alternating rows of leucaena and gliricidia, and three plots without trees. During the cropping seasons, maize was planted between the hedgerows while a row of cowpea was planted between the rows of maize. One of the plots without trees was planted to an intercrop of maize and cowpea. The remaining two plots without trees were planted to maize alone, one of which was mulched. The treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. There was no evidence of enhanced mortality in the more diverse systems indicating that the vegetation structure and cultural treatments studied did not enhance activity levels of C. partellus mortality factors. The highest mortality occurred in the early and medium larval stages in all treatments. This mortality was attributable to ‘disappearance’, which represented mortality from sources other than parasitism. The total real generation mortality showed that from the initial cohort of first and second instar larvae, less than 10% of C. partellus survived to adult stage under field conditions in all the treatments. Mortality by Cotesia sesamiae Cameron and Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) was very minimal, indicating the parasitoids were not important mortality factors of C. partellus under the cropping systems studied. Their effects were also not influenced by the cropping systems studied.

Two shaving methods, one by using a sharp razor blade and the other a small pair of dissecting scissors, were tested on pods of Vigna vexillata accessions to investigate the effect of trichomes on feeding and development of the pod-bug Clavigralla tomentosicollis Stål (Hemiptera: Coreidae). Electron micrographs of unshaved (control) pods showed that all trichome types (glandular, long non-glandular and short non-glandular) were present on the pod surface. Shaving with a pair of scissors shortened long non-glandular trichomes, with little or no damage to the glandular types. Percentages of seed damage and nymphs surviving to the adult stage were similar (P>0.05) between unshaved and scissors-shaved pods. These pods showed significantly lower (P<0.05) percent seed damage than razor-shaved and solvent-washed pods, whose glandular trichomes were all completely scraped or washed off. The opposite trend was observed for the insect's growth index, indicating that glandular trichomes had a greater influence than non-glandular trichomes on feeding and development of C. tomentosicollis. The present study suggests that the scissor-shaving method would be more appropriate if the effect of trichome length is being investigated, and the more abrasive razor-shaving method if the effect of glandular trichomes is of interest

The effect of topical application and oral administration of diflubenzuron on the feeding budget in the fifth instar larva of Papilio demoleus has been studied. The LD50 and LC50 values of diflubenzuron were 13.50 and 9.00 μg/larva/48 hr respectively. Topical application was found more efficacious in producing 50% mortality at a comparatively minimum dose of 9.00 μg. The growth efficiency was reduced by 44.54% in oral administration and 38.19% in topical application at the highest sublethal dose over that of control larvae. Not only the growth of the larvae of P. demoleus was inhibited, but the adults showed morphological deformities.

Tests on the quantitative adsorption of polyhedra of nuclear polyhedrosis virus of Heliothis armigera to black and red soil showed an increase in the adsorption of polyhedra with an increase in the amount of soil. The increase was higher in the red soil than black soil, but the number of polyhedra adsorbed per unit weight of soil decreased as the amount of soil increased; the rate of decrease being faster in black soil than in red soil. The adsorption of polyhedra of nuclear polyhedrosis virus of Heliothis armigera is discussed based on certain physico-chemical properties of both red and black soils.

Studies were conducted in several ecological regions of Côte d'lvoire from 1986 to 1990 to monitor maize cob-borer populations and to investigate losses in maize grain yield due to this pest. The relationship between borer abundance and crop losses was studied using regression analyses, in which two regression models were developed. One model related yield loss to number of damaged grains and the other related yield loss to grain weight. Mussidia nigrivenella Ragonot (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) was the dominant pest in most localities. Its population density was particularly high in the semi-deciduous rain forest and decreased westwards and northwards. The models explained 85.6% (yield loss vs damaged grains) and 72.5% (yield loss vs loss in grain weight) of the observed variation. Moreover, they showed that the weight loss due to cob-borers was much lower than that due to stem borers and also that the number of damaged grains increased rapidly with borer density.

This study on predispersal seed predation of the leguminous species Vachellia abyssinica (Hochst. Ex. Benth.) Kyal & Boatwr., Senegalia senegal (L.) Britton, Vachellia seyal (Del.) P.J.H. Hurter, and Vachellia tortilis (Forssk.) Galasso & Banfi was conducted around Lake Langano and Menagesha Forest in Ethiopia to identify the associated seed predators and determine their impact on seed germination. Eight seed beetles Bruchidius albosparsus (Fåhraeus, 1839), B. aurivillii (Blanc, 1889), B. djemensis Decelle 1971, B. discoidalis (Fåhraeus, 1839), B. sinaitus (K. Daniel, 1907), B. silaceus (Fåhraeus, 1839), B. sp 411, B. simulans (Anton and Delobel, 2003), and one unidentified species of Cerambycidae were found associated with seeds of these Acacia species. These predators damaged less than 9% of seeds of these species, which exhibited lower germination. This study provides unrecorded lists of predispersal seed predators associated with seeds of Vachellia and Senegalia species in Ethiopia, and some associations are new. There is need to assess the distribution, abundance and effects of predispersal seed predators on other Vachellia, as well as other tree species.

A high level of resistance to chlorpyrifos has been detected in Culex quinquefasciatus larvae from Dar es Salaam. To study the impact of this resistance on the routine anti-larval spraying programme with this chemical, pit latrines, cess pits and soakage pits were examined regularly after spraying. Larvae were eliminated immediately after spraying, but in most cases they re-appeared about 2 weeks later. Bio-assays with susceptible and resistant larvae in water samples from the pits showed that in most cases there would have been sufficient insecticide residue for at least 10 weeks to kill a susceptible population, but resistant larvae could survive in the water from about 2 weeks after spraying. Chemical analysis showed that the water was toxic to resistant larvae so long as it contained about 0.02 mg/l chlorpyrifos. These observations might have suggested that the routine spraying programme every 10 weeks would be having very little impact on the population now that resistance has evolved. However, in fact, adult densities in houses in a year with spraying on schedule were much less than in years when many sprayings were missed owing to shortage of supplies. Thus the regular spraying programme still apppears to have a beneficial effect.

Inhabited Macrotermes (Termitidae: Macrotermitinae) mounds in cultivated farms in the humid forest agroecological zones of southwestern Nigeria showed higher clay and silt but lower sand contents than their surrounding soils. These physical characteristics were positively correlated with those of the surrounding soils. The heights and diameters of the mounds were also positively correlated to the level of clay and silt in the surrounding soils, although the correlations were not significant (P > 0.05). Carbon and nitrogen content of 67% of the mounds was lower than that of their surrounding soils. A general increase in exchangeable bases and phosphorous contents of the mound materials compared to those of the surrounding soils was also observed. The pH of mound materials varied between 5.5 and 7.3, with 75% of the mounds having lower pH values than the surrounding soils. The implication of these results on the possible use of mound materials to increase soil fertility is discussed.

A preliminary taxonomic review of cassava green spider mites, Mononychellus spp., from their South American topotype and from several African countries indicates that the dorsal central body setae is not a reliable and stable diagnostic character as it was found to widely vary. The taxonomie implication of this is discussed.

Larvae of the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa Loew (Diptera: Tephritidae) parasitized by the wasp, Biosteres longicaudatus Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), were topically treated with diflubenzuron (Dimilin®), a chitin synthesis inhibitor, at 100, 500 and 1000 ppm. Each dosage was initiated during the parasite's egg stage, each of four larval stages and the pupal stage (pharate pupa + pharate adult). Adults emerging from all immature stages treated with the two higher dosages were significantly (P < 0.05) fewer than the controls. Developmental stages, in decreasing order of susceptibility to diflubenzuron were: egg, first instar, pharate adult, pharate pupa and larval stages two to four. Abnormally developed ovipositors occurred in some adults which emerged from eggs, pharate pupa and pharate adults that were treated with the two higher concentrations. Such females were unable to successfully locate and parasitize hosts. Females with normal ovipositors which emerged from treated eggs and pharate adults were able to find and attack hosts but had significantly fewer eggs in their ovaries and oviposited less than the controls. The F1 eggs laid by these females developed normally and survived to adulthood with no apparent abnormalities.