ABSTRACT
The maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais is among the major storage pests that enhance food insecurity among maize farmers. New sources of resistance to the maize weevil are critical in a successful breeding program to address grain damage by postharvest pests. The objective of this study was to screen eight accession of local maize for resistance to maize weevil. The maize samples were yellow and white maize which were sorted by their kernel shapes and grouped in the following format: BOY = Big Oval Yellow, SOY = Small Oval Yellow, BRY =Big Round Yellow SRY = Small Round Yellow, BOW = Big Oval White, SOW = Small Oval White, BRW = Big Round White, SRW = Small Round White. Highest death rate was recorded in SRW, followed by SOW, SRY, BOY, SOY and BOW. The least death rate was found in BRY and BRW. The rate of germination and percentage showed that SOW has the highest germination rate, followed by BRW, BOW, SRW, SRY, BRY and BOW. The maize with least germination rate was SOY. There was no significant difference in the general resistance of weevils infestation of number of damage yellow maize and white maize across all the treatments (t-1.17, p>0.05). There was no significant difference in the general resistance of weevils infestation of number of non-damage yellow maize and white maize across all the treatment (t=1.146, p>0.05). There was no significant difference in the no of damage and non-damage yellow and white maize based on different treatment application (F=0.310 and 0.303; P>0.05) and finally, there was a significant difference between the damage and non-damage yellow and white maize across different treatment level in favour of damage yellow and white maize. The use of resistant varieties should be promoted in managing S. zeamais in stored maize under subsistence farming conditions in Africa.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction
1.1 Background to the Study
1.2 Aim and Objective of the Study
CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review
2.1 Maize
2.2 Overview of Maize Production in Nigeria
2.3 Demand and Production of Maize
2.4 Varieties of Maize
2.5 Importance and uses of maize
2.6 Maize weevil
2.7 Maize storage
2.7.1 Hermetic Storage
CHAPTER THREE: Materials and Methods
3.1 Collection of Samples
3.2 Collection of weevils
3.3 Screening of the local maize varieties for resistance to maize weevil
3.4 Maize Viability Test
3.5 Data Analysis
CHAPTER FOUR: Results
4.1 Maize Resistance to Weevils
4.2 Germination Rate of Maize Accessions
CHAPTER FIVE: Discussion and Conclusion
5.1 Discussion
5.2 Conclusion
References
Appendix
