Browsing by Author "Bwogi Godfrey"

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Assessing the effectiveness of ethnomedicinal products on banana weevils using REML
(Science Publishing Group, 2014) Bwogi Godfrey; Mwine Julius; Jumba Francis; Murongo Marius; Njoroge Njeri Grace; Kabango Freddie; Mutumba Pross Mutumba Nakulima
This study investigated the effect of applying selected banana pest control treatments on management of banana weevils. The data was collected on 283 banana plants picked at random; from 29 farmers selected using a snowball sampling technique. Treatments used were ethnomedicinal products, synthetic chemicals, cultural practices in plantation planted from suckers and those planted from tissue culture. Since data was spatially collected, it was analyzed using Restricted Maximum likelihood Estimator (REML). REML was used to estimate the PCI after a square root transformation. The statistical analysis indicated a significant difference between plantations where synthetic chemicals, clean planting materials (tissue culture), cultural practices and ethnomedicinal products were used. There was also significant variation resulting from different varieties grown. However, there was no significant variation resulting from the response of different varieties to the different treatments. Results also indicated that garden where the cleaning materials had been used had the least percentage of banana weevil infection. This study found out that there was no significant difference in damage caused by banana weevils in banana plantations where synthetic chemicals and ethnomedicinal extracts were applied. Thus given the results, the study concluded that ethnomedicinal products can be used by farmers to manage banana weevils. The study recommends that further studies should be carried out to assess efficacy of the identified potential plants with pesticidal properties under controlled experiment.
Assessing the effectiveness of ethnomedicinal products on banana weevils using REML
(Science Publishing Group, 2014) Bwogi Godfrey; Mwine Julius; Jumba Francis; Murongo Marius; Njoroge Njeri Grace; Kabango Freddie; Mutumba Nakulima Kyeswa Pross
This study investigated the effect of applying selected banana pest control treatments on management of banana weevils. The data was collected on 283 banana plants picked at random; from 29 farmers selected using a snowball sampling technique. Treatments used were ethnomedicinal products, synthetic chemicals, cultural practices in plantation planted from suckers and those planted from tissue culture. Since data was spatially collected, it was analyzed using Restricted Maximum likelihood Estimator (REML). REML was used to estimate the PCI after a square root transformation. The statistical analysis indicated a significant difference between plantations where synthetic chemicals, clean planting materials (tissue culture), cultural practices and ethnomedicinal products were used. There was also significant variation resulting from different varieties grown. However, there was no significant variation resulting from the response of different varieties to the different treatments. Results also indicated that garden where the cleaning materials had been used had the least percentage of banana weevil infection. This study found out that there was no significant difference in damage caused by banana weevils in banana plantations where synthetic chemicals and ethnomedicinal extracts were applied. Thus given the results, the study concluded that ethnomedicinal products can be used by farmers to manage banana weevils. The study recommends that further studies should be carried out to assess efficacy of the identified potential plants with pesticidal properties under controlled experiment.
Interaction of the predatory ant Pheidole megacephala (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with the polyphagus pest Xylosandrus compactus (Coleoptera: Curculionidea)
(Elsevier, 2017-01) Bwogi Godfrey
We evaluated the potential of using Pheidole megacephala as a biological control agent against the coffee twig borer Xylosandrus compactus (Eichhoff), an economically important pest of Robusta coffee in Uganda. Upon observing that P. megacephala was common in coffee fields infested by X. compactus, we tested hypotheses that (1) P. megacephala feeds on all stages of X. compactus, (2) P. megacephala can enter galleries of X. compactus inside coffee twigs in search for the prey and (3) P. megacephala’s presence on infested twigs reduces populations of X. compactus in the galleries. In a Petri dish bioassay over 24 h, we found that P. megacephala preyed upon all stages of X. compactus without indication of preference. We caged up X. compactus infested twigs with P. megacephala in a plastic container over 48 h and found that the predator was unable to enter the galleries. Lastly, we caged up intact X. compactus infested coffee twigs in the field with muslin cloth sleeves for one month and found that P. megacephala reduced the population of X. compactus per twig by almost 22-fold compared to the untreated control. We concluded that P. megacephala is an indiscriminate predator of all X. compactus stages, and, though unable to enter X. compactus galleries, the predator may reduce X. compactus population on infested twigs. Exploitation of P. megacephala in the biological control of X. compactus on coffee and other crops would require additional studies on how to enhance presence of the predator on the infested crop.