Four maize varieties, 8321–21-W, DMR-LSR-W, ACR-83TZUT-W and TZB were simultaneously fed to Sitophilus zeamais in a completely randomized design. Susceptibility was assessed on such parameters as weight loss of grains caused by the weevil infestation, number of progenies at 42 days after infestation and the percentage of damaged kernels. The least susceptible in terms of loss of weight of grains was TZB. Losses in the other three were not significantly different at 5% level (P ≻ 0.05).
The least percentage mortality of adult weevils and the highest number of punctured kernels were observed in var. 8321–21-W (48%), 27 kernels respectively while var. DMR-LSR-W had the highest mortality score (80%) and ranked second in the total number of kernels punctured (13). Details of the description of maize varieties used and the analysis of damage caused by the weevil are discussed in the paper.
