Insecticidal Activity of Piper Guineense Schumacher Extract on Some Field Insect Pests of Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus Linnaeus) in Imo State, Nigeria

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Research Paper July 2018

Insecticidal Activity of Piper guineense Schumacher Extract on Some Field Insect Pests of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus Linnaeus) in Imo State, Nigeria

Ojiako, F. O.*, Echerobia C. O. and Okudoh, S. U.

Department of Crop Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B.1526, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria *Corresponding Author’s E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract This study compared the insecticidal efficacy of Piper guineense seed extract relative to a synthetic insecticide (cypermethrin 10 EC) in the control of some field insect pests of cucumber. The experiment consisted of 7 treatments replicated 3 times in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Cypermethrin 10 EC was tested at 0, 0.50, 1.0 and1.50 ml/100 ml of water while P. guineense seeds, air dried under shade and crushed into powdery form, were weighed out at 0, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 g. The weighed samples were mixed with 100 ml of water, respectively, before spraying. Insecticides application and pest sampling were carried out at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 weeks after planting (WAP). Leaf damage and yield assessment parameters (number of fruits per plot and fresh weight of fruits from each plot) were assessed from 4 to 10 WAP. Major arthropod pests identified were adult and larva of Epilachna chrysomelina Mulsant and Podagrica spp. Insecticide type had significant effect on the population of sampled pests. The plots sprayed with P. guineense extract had higher number of leaves (13.62 leaves) when compared with plots sprayed with cypermethrin (11.99 leaves) (mean of the three rates), respectively. Though P. guineense extract at the applied rates recorded a higher number of damaged leaves (11.43) than the plots sprayed with cypermethrin (8.90), they had less damaged leaves than the control (12.16). Despite having more damaged leaves, plots treated with P. guineense extract had the same statistical yield (in number and fresh weight of cucumber fruits harvested) with those sprayed with cypermethrin (P = .05). Piper guineense extract compared favourably with cypermethrin in controlling the insect pests of cucumber and could serve as alternative to synthetic pesticides in the management of these pests.

Keywords: Cucumber, cypermethrin, epilachna chrysomelina, insecticidal, Piper guineense, Podagrica spp.

1. Introduction

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae with about 30 Cucumis species, which includes gourds, watermelon, pumpkins, and other edible squashes found in Asia and Africa (Lower and Edwards, 1986; Mallik, Das & Das, 2013). The most efficiently important cucurbits according to world total production are water melon, cucumber and melon

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(FAO, 2006). Cucumber, one of the oldest cultivated tropical vegetable crops, is said to have been cultivated for over 3,000 years (Yawalkar, 1985).

Although important cucumber production occurs in North Central America and Europe, half of world cucumber production occurs in Asia (Zubair, Azhar, Rehmani, Abdul, Uzma & Habib, 2015) with China being the largest producer. The plant is a creeping vine that bears cylindrical fruits that are used for culinary purposes (Onimisi & Ovansa, 2015) and can be eaten raw in salads or cooked in more exotic dishes (RaechelLoveJoy, 2015). There are three main varieties of cucumber: slicing, pickling, and burpless (Vora, Rane & Kumar, 2014). In Nigeria, the slicing variety is mostly cultivated and is mainly added in vegetable salads or consumed raw. Lately, there has been increasing demand of cucumber as a result of the increasing awareness of the importance of fruits in diets and cucumber’s health and other benefits (Wilcox, Offor & Omojola, 2015). The production of cucumber is very low in the southern parts of the country as most vegetables and fruits are sourced from northern Nigeria with the attendant high prices due mainly to transportation costs and spoilages (Okonmah, 2011; Chinatu, Onwuchekwa-Henry & Okoronkwo, 2017).

Cucumber yields are frequently reduced by a myriad of insect pests (Valenzuela, Hamasaki and Fukuda, 1994). General insect damage may be caused by beetles, leaf miners and leaf hoppers such as spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata Chevrolat in Dejean), striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma vitatum Fabricius), banded cucumber beetle (Diabrotica balteata LeConte), squash bug (Anasa tristis De Geer) and squash vine borer (Melittia cucurbitae Harris ) (Grubben & Denton, 2004). Others include melon aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover), cowpea aphid (Aphis craccivora Koch), potato aphid (Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas), green peach aphid (Myzus persicae Sulzer), cutworm (Agrotis spp) and pumpkin beetle (Aulcophora spp) (Loy, 1990; Seng, 2002); cucumber moth (Diaphania indica Saunders), pumpkin beetle (Aulacophora hilaris Boisduval and A. abdominalis Fabricus), two-spotted mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch.) (Valenzuela et al., 1994; Brown, 2015). Insect pest infestation, if unchecked, especially before the flowering periods, results to poor yield, damaged fruits, altered sizes and consequent loss in market value.

Synthetic pesticides such as pyrethroids are largely used by commercial and subsistent farmers in the control of these insects. These synthetics are preferred over the use of bio-pesticides because of the fast acting nature of the active ingredients involved and limited knowledge on the use of bio-pesticides. Among the synthetic pyrethriods, cypermethrin is the most used.

Cypermethrin (C22H19Cl2NO3), a synthetic pyrethroid class of insecticide was first synthesized in 1974 (WHO, 1989). It is commonly used to control various pests, including moth pests of cotton, fruit, and vegetable crops (Meister, 1992). The synthetic kills insects by disrupting normal functioning of their nervous system (Cox, 1996), making it fast and efficient.

Recently, the overuse of synthetics and or application of illegal doses have been found to have very negative and adverse consequences which include human poisoning, destruction of natural enemies, crop pollination problems due to honey bee losses, domestic animal poisoning and contamination of underground water and rivers (Grzywacz & Leavett, 2012). Debbab, Hajjaji, Aly, Dahchour, Azzouzi & Zrineh (2014) has shown that pyrethroid insecticides used on vegetables like cabbage and celery reduced the level of phenolic antioxidants found in them thereby reducing their quality. Also, the escalating cost of importing pesticides makes these synthetic pesticides unaffordable to limited resource farmers (Oparaeke, Dike, & Amatobi, 2005).

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Piper guineense, Schumacher, a spice plant from the Class, Magnoliopsida, Order, Piperales and family Piperaceae, is an important plant that has culinary, medicinal, cosmetic and insecticidal uses (Juliani, Koroch, Giordano, Amekuse, Koffa, Asante-Dartey & Simon, 2013; Besong, Balogun, Djobissie, Mbamalu & Obimma, 2016). The plant is found in tropical regions of Central and Western Africa where it is semi-cultivated in countries like Nigeria especially in the southern parts (Purseglove, Brown, Green & Robbins, 1981), where it is used majorly as flavouring in preparations of stews. It is known as Uziza in Igbo, Iyere in Yoruba and Masooro in Hausa. Other common names are Ashanti pepper, Guinea pepper and False cubeb. P. guineense is an important source of various nutrients and phytochemicals with diverse functions (Besong et al., 2016). The fruits of P. guineense occur in clusters, small, reddish or reddish brown when they are ripe then become black when they are dry (Okwute,1992). They are rich in a wide range of natural products including volatiles, oils, lignins, amides, alkaloids, flavonoids and polyphenols (Juliani et al., 2013, Ukpai, Ibediungha & Ehisianya, 2017)). In the south- eastern parts of Nigeria, the fruits are used to prepare soups for mothers from the first day of delivery to prevent postpartum contraction and to aid in the fast return of the uterine muscles to the original shape, and increase the flow of the nursing mothers’ breast milk (Uhegbu, Chinedu & Amadike, 2015). The seed contains piperine and chavicine which are insecticidal active ingredients (Okonkwo & Okoye, 1996). Currently, there is a dearth of information on the control of insect pests of cucumber with P. guineense seed extract.

This study was conducted to compare the efficacy of P. guineense seed extract relative to a standard insecticide, cypermethrin, in the control of insect pests of cucumber. It is hoped that if found efficacious, farmers could adopt this bio pesticide to achieve a safer and healthier control of insect pests of cucumber.

2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Experimental Site The experiment was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State. The farm is situated between latitude 5°25’ N and longitude 7°2’ E in the tropical rainforest zone of South-eastern Nigeria. The experiment was rain-fed.

2.2. Experimental Materials

Cucumber F1 L-999 seeds were procured from Thai Agro-Allied, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. The plant is the large type, grows and develops very strongly with each plant setting many fruits. F1 L-999 is resistant to rain and high temperatures. Fruit shape is long and cylindrical, has long shelf-life and is early maturing [32-36 days after planting (DAP)] (Green Seeds Inc., 2014).

Piper guineense seeds were sourced from Eke Onunwa Market in Owerri, Imo state. The seeds were air dried under shade to prevent loss of active principle by sunlight, crushed into powdery form with pestle and mortar and weighed out at 1.00, 2.00 and 3.00 g. The weighed samples were mixed with 100 ml (respectively) of water in containers and allowed to settle for six hours. The solution was filtered through a fine muslin cloth and the active principle recovered and applied immediately.

DELTHRIN 10 EC (Cypermethrin 100 g/l) was purchased from The Candel Company Limited, 3B Chris Efuyemi Onanuga Street, Lekki Phase1, Ikoyi, Lagos State, Nigeria. The insecticide

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was measured out with a syringe at 0, 0.50, 1.0 and 1.5 ml, and mixed with 100 ml of water each.

2.3. Experimental Design and Land preparation The experiment consisted of 7 treatments with 3 replications laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). A land size of 6.50 m x 20.50 m was measured out with tape and cleared by slashing the bush. The land was levelled and manually ploughed with a hoe and then mapped out with ropes and pegs. The land was divided into three blocks with spacing of 1m between the blocks. Twenty one (21) beds of 2.50 m x 1.50 m (3.75 m2) and 0.25m high were raised in each block. These represented the replications of the treatments. Each bed had a spacing of 0.50 m between them.

2.4. Manure Application Organic manure (cured poultry droppings) was basally applied on each of the beds and incorporated into the soil at a rate of 5.33 tons/ha before planting.

2.5. Planting Cucumber seeds were sown at 2-3 seeds per hole at a spacing of 50 cm x 75 cm on each bed which was later thinned down to one plant per stand at 2 weeks after planting (2WAP) to give a total population of 10 plants per bed or 26,666.67 plants per hectare for the experiment.

2.6. Treatments

The P. guineense seed extract and cypermethrin 10 EC in water were foliar- sprayed using a 500 ml hand sprayer. The applications were carried out weekly at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 weeks after planting (WAP).

2.7. Data Collection

Growth parameters were collected from six (6) randomly selected plants from each plot.

2.7.1. Length of Vine: This was done by measuring the vine from the ground level to the tip of the most established leaf of each tagged plant. This was carried out at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 WAP.

2.7.2. Number of leaves: The total number of established leaves for each of the samples was counted at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 WAP.

2.7.3. Number of Damaged Leaves: This was done by counting the number of insect- perforated/damaged leaves on the sampled plants. This was carried out at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 WAP.

2.7.4. Insect collection: Insect pests were collected weekly from each plot using a sweep net, cellophane bags and a sample bottle. This was carried out early mornings (6.00 – 7.00 am). Collected insects were preserved in containers with formalin solution - soaked cotton wool. These insects were taken to the laboratory for identification and counting. Pest sampling were carried out at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 weeks after planting (WAP).

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2.7.5. Number of Fruits per Plot: The total number of cucumber fruits harvested per plant and per bed.

2.7.6. Weight of Fresh Fruit: The harvested fruits per plant and per bed were taken to the laboratory and weighted with a scale.

2.8. Data Analysis

Data obtained from this experiment was subjected to statistical analysis using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and test of means for significance was done using F-test. Means were separated using least significance difference (LSD) at 5% probability level.

3. Results

In the course of this experiment, insects collected were African praying mantis, Sphodromantis lineola Burmeister,(Mantodea: Mantidae), cotton stainer, Dysdercus spp. (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae), melon ladybird beetle, Epilachna chrysomelina Fabricius (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and flea beetle, Podagrica spp (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). However, only melon ladybird beetle adult and its larva, E. chrysomelina (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and the flea beetle, Podagrica Spp (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) were identified as the major insect pests. Other arthropod pest incidences were occasional and insignificant to report.

Table 1 showed the comparative performance of P. guineense extract and cypermethrin on the insect pests of cucumber collected and identified from the experimental plots at 4 – 5 weeks after planting (4 – 5 WAP). The result revealed that at 4 WAP, there were no significant differences (P = .05) between the population of insects collected from the plots because the insects’ collection was made before the very first spray at 4 WAP. At 5WAP), however, a significant difference (P = .05) between the population of insects collected from the plots sprayed with P. guineense and cypermethrin and the unsprayed plots (control) was observed. The plots sprayed with cypermethrin at 1.5ml/100ml of water had the lowest mean number of insects (2.34) collected. The P. guineense rates statistically gave same results (6.00 to 7.33 insects) but differed significantly from the control (13.01 insects), respectively.

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Table 1: Comparative Performance of Piper guineense Extract and Cypermethrin on Insect Pests of Cucumber from 4WAP – 5WAP

4WAP 5 WAP Application Ec (Adult) Ps Ec (larva) Total Ec (Adult) Ps Ec (larva) Total Rates CONTROL 1.33 4.00 4.00 9.33 3.67 5.67 3.67 13.01

Piper guineense 1.67 4.67 4.67 11.01 1.67 3.67 1.67 7.01 at 1.00ml Piper guineense 1.33 3.33 3.33 7.99 1.33 3.67 2.33 7.33 at 2.00ml Piper guineense 1.67 2.67 2.67 7.01 1.33 2.67 2.00 6.00 at 3.00ml Total 4.67 10.67 10.67 4.33 10.01 6.00 (P.guineensis) Cypermethin at 1.33 3.33 3.33 7.99 0.67 2.33 1.00 4.00 0.50ml Cypermethin at 1.67 5.00 5.00 11.67 0.67 2.33 1.67 4.67 1.00ml Cypermethin at 1.67 3.33 3.33 8.33 0.67 1.00 0.67 2.34 1.50ml Total 4.67 11.66 11.66 2.01 5.66 3.34 (Cypermethrin)

LSD 0.05 NS NS NS 1.207 1.569 1.616

Key: Ec (Adult) = Epilachna chrysomelina (Melon Ladybird beetle); Ps = Podagrica Spp (flee beetle); Ec (larva) = Epilachna chrysomelina larva (Ladybird Larva); NS = Non significant

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There were significant differences (P = .05) within the plots sprayed with P. guineense extract, cypermethrin and the unsprayed plots (control) at 6 to 7 WAP (Table 2). The plots sprayed with cypermethrin had lower mean values of insects at 6 WAP (2.00, 0.67, 0.33) and 7 WAP (1.34, 1.0, 0 for rates 1, 2 and 3) respectively, when compared with the plots sprayed with P. guineense at 6 weeks (8.0, 6.33, 5.33) and 7 weeks (8.67, 6.67, 7.66) respectively. The control, comparatively, had (14.66) and (14.34) at 6 and 7 weeks respectively.

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Table 2: Comparative Performance of Piper guineense Extract and Cypermethrin on Insects from 6 WAP – 7 WAP

6 WAP 7 WAP Application Ec (Adult) Ps Ec (larva) Total Ec (Adult) Ps Ec (larva) Total Rates CONTROL 4.33 5.00 5.33 14.66 4.67 5.00 4.67 14.34

Piper guineense 1.33 3.00 3.67 8.00 2.00 3.67 3.00 8.67 at 1.00ml Piper guineense 1.33 2.33 2.67 6.33 2.67 2.33 1.67 6.67 at 2.00ml Piper guineense 1.33 3.00 1.00 5.33 2.33 3.33 2.00 7.66 at 3.00ml Total 3.99 8.33 7.34 7.00 9.33 6.00 (P.guineensis) Cypermethin at 0.33 1.67 0.00 2.00 0.67 0.67 0.00 1.34 0.50ml Cypermethin at 0.67 0.00 0.00 0.67 0.33 0.67 0.00 1.00 1.00ml Cypermethin at 0.33 0.00 0.00 0.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.50ml Total 1.33 1.67 0.00 1.00 1.34 0.00 (Cypermethrin)

LSD 0.05 1.779 1.186 3.313 1.207 1.512 1.677

Key: Ec (Adult) = Epilachna chrysomelina (Melon Ladybird beetle); Ps = Podagrica Spp (flee beetle); Ec (larva) = Epilachna chrysomelina larva (Ladybird Larva); NS = Non significant

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The result of the comparative performance of P. guineense extract and cypermethrin indicates that there were significant differences between the sprayed plots and the control (Table 3). The plots sprayed with cypermethrin had the lowest mean values of insects collected at 8 WAP (0.33, 0.33, 0) while no insects were collected at 9 and 10 WAP. At 8 WAP, plots sprayed with P. guineense had (7.0, 5.0, 5.67), (6.67, 5.66, 5.67) and (4.33, 4.67, 4.00) for 9 and 10 WAP respectively. Control had (11.99), (9.0) and (6.34) at 8, 9 and 10 WAP respectively.

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Table 3: Comparative Performance of Piper guineense Extract and Cypermethrin on Insects from 8 WAP – 10 WAP

8WAP 9WAP 10 WAP Application rates Ec (adult) Ps Ec (larva) Total Ec (adult) Ps Ec (larva) Total Ec (Adult) Ps Ec (larva) Total

CONTROL 4.33 4.33 3.33 11.99 3.00 3.33 2.67 9.00 2.00 2.67 1.67 6.34

Piper guineense 2.00 3.33 1.67 7.0 1.67 3.33 1.67 6.67 1.00 2.00 1.33 4.33 at 1.00ml Piper guineense 1.33 2.00 1.67 5.00 1.33 2.33 2.00 5.66 0.33 2.67 1.67 4.67 at 2.00ml Piper guineense 1.67 2.00 2.00 5.67 1.33 2.67 1.67 5.67 1.00 1.67 1.33 4.00 at 3.00ml Total 5.00 7.33 5.34 4.33 8.33 5.34 2.33 6.34 4.33 (P.guineensis) Cypermethin at 0.00 0.33 0.00 0.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.50ml Cypermethin at 0.00 0.33 0.00 0.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00ml Cypermethin at 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.50ml Total 0.00 0.66 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 (Cypermethrin)

LSD 0.05 1.729 1.063 1.639 1.087 1.345 1.373 0.726 0.672 1.075 Key: Ec (Adult) = Epilachna chrysomelina (Melon Ladybird beetle); Ps = Podagrica Spp (flee beetle); Ec (larva) = Epilachna chrysomelina larva (Ladybird Larva); NS = Non significant

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Table 4 indicates that the plots sprayed with P. guineense and cypermethrin significantly (P = .05) had less number of damaged leaves compared to the unsprayed plots from 4 WAP to 8 WAP. P. guineense extract (11.45, 11.59, 11.26) had a lower mean value of damaged leaves compared to control (12.16). The plots sprayed with cypermethrin (8.83, 9.19, 8.69) had the least damaged leaves. The highest concentration of cypermethrin (3.0ml/100ml of water) recorded the lowest mean value of damaged leaves while the untreated control had the highest.

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Table 4: Comparative Performance of Piper guineense extract and Cypermethrin on the Number of Damaged Leaves of Cucumber

NS = Non Significant

Application Rates 3WAP 4WAP 5WAP 6WAP 7WAP 8WAP Mean

CONTROL 4.72 6.89 10.50 13.81 16.75 20.27 12.16

Piper guineense at 1.00ml 4.55 5.66 9.78 13.27 15.11 20.33 11.45

Piper guineense at 2.00ml 4.16 5.97 10.11 13.55 15.22 20.50 11.59

Piper guineense at 3.00ml 3.78 5.72 9.55 13.16 14.83 20.50 11.26

Mean (P.guineensis) 4.16 5.78 9.81 13.33 15.05 20.44

Cypermethin at 0.50ml 3.77 3.17 6.66 9.66 10.16 19.61 8.83

Cypermethin at 1.00ml 3.83 4.19 7.72 9.78 9.94 19.72 9.19

Cypermethin at 1.50ml 3.38 3.28 6.89 9.55 9.66 19.38 8.69

Mean (Cypermethrin) 3.66 3.55 7.09 9.66 9.92 19.57

LSD 0.05 NS 0.967 1.800 1.315 1.468 0.822

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The comparative performance of P. guineense extract and cypermethrin on number of leaves is presented on Table 5. The plots sprayed with P. guineense extract had significantly (P = .05) increased leaf foliage compared to cypermethrin treated plants and the unsprayed plots. The plots sprayed with P. guineense extract had higher mean number of leaves (13.68, 13.72, 13.46) when compared with plots sprayed with cypermethrin (11.97, 12.34, 11.65). Even untreated plot had higher foliage (13.20) than plots sprayed with the synthetic.

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Table 5: Comparative Performance of Piper guineense Extract and Cypermethrin on Number of Leaves of Cucumber

Application Rates 3WAP 4WAP 5WAP 6WAP 7WAP 8WAP Mean

CONTROL 5.66 7.94 11.72 15.50 18.11 20.27 13.20

Piper guineense at 6.05 8.55 12.44 16.16 18.55 20.33 13.68 1.00ml Piper guineense at 5.88 8.50 12.44 16.22 18.83 20.50 13.72 2.00ml Piper guineense at 5.55 8.16 12.00 15.88 18.66 20.50 13.46 3.00ml Mean (P.guineensis) 5.83 8.40 12.29 16.09 18.68 20.44

Cypermethin at 0.50ml 5.16 6.22 9.77 14.11 17.00 19.61 11.97

Cypermethin at 1.00ml 5.28 6.55 10.50 14.88 17.16 19.72 12.34

Cypermethin at 1.50ml 4.94 5.66 9.39 13.89 16.61 19.38 11.65

Mean (Cypermethrin) 5.13 6.14 9.89 14.29 16.92 19.57

LSD 0.05 NS 1.536 1.714 1.505 1.445 0.822

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The result presented on Table 6 indicates that there was no statistically significant effect on the length of the vines in the sprayed and unsprayed plots between 5 WAP and 8WAP. . Plants sprayed with P. guineense at 3.00ml/ 100ml of water at 3 and 4 WAP, however, had the highest mean value of vine length (48.25) while control had the lowest (34.47).

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Table 6: Comparative Performance of Piper guineense Extract and Cypermethrin on the Vine Length of Cucumber

Application Rates 3WAP 4WAP 5WAP 6WAP 7WAP 8WAP Mean

CONTROL 13.71 16.92 34.30 38.10 41.30 62.50 34.47

P. guineense (1.00 ml) 16.79 19.67 40.00 43.00 46.50 76.50 40.41

P. guineense (2.00 ml) 21.04 24.50 47.30 48.00 51.50 77.50 45.02

P. guineense (3.00 ml) 22.38 25.32 51.20 54.50 57.30 78.80 48.25

Mean (P. guineensis) 20.07 23.16 46.17 48.60 51.77 77.60

Cypermethrn (0.50 ml) 17.31 20.29 40.20 44.80 48.20 76.00 41.13

Cypermethrn (1.00 ml) 18.33 21.13 44.90 47.20 50.40 79.00 43.49

Cypermethin (1.50 ml) 16.25 19.13 45.90 50.30 51.00 83.20 44.30 Total (Cypermethrin) 15.38 18.43 43.67 47.43 49.87 79.40

LSD 0.05 4.670 4.348 NS NS NS NS

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Piper guineense extract and cypermethrin had no significant effect (P = .05) on the number and fresh weight of cucumber fruits harvested from the sprayed and unsprayed plots (Table 7). However, the highest concentration of P. guineense (4.83) and cypermethrin (5.07) recorded the highest mean weight of fruits harvested.

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Table 7: Comparative Performance of Piper guineense and Cypermethrin on the Number and Weight of Cucumber Fruits Harvested

Application Rates Number of fruits collected Weight of fruits collected

CONTROL 8.33 3.30 P. guineense (1.0 ml) 8.33 3.33

P. guineense (2.0 ml) 8.33 3.10

P. guineense (3.0 ml) 9.33 4.83

Mean (P.guineensis) 8.66 3.75

Cypermethin ( 0.5 ml) 8.00 4.33 Cypermethin (1.0 ml) 8.00 3.53 Cypermethin (1.5.0 ml) 8.33 5.07

Mean (Cypermethrin) 8.11 4.31

LSD 0.05 NS NS

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4. Discussion

The experiment which evaluated the insecticidal activity of extracts of P. guineense and cypermethrin in the control of field insect pests of cucumber showed that though the synthetic performed comparatively better than P. guineense in reduction of the pest population, the later performed far better than the control and also had comparative growth parameters – number of leaves, length of vines and number of harvested fruits with the synthetic. The insecticidal ability of P. guineense could be as a result of isobutylamides, a compound that acts as neurotoxins in insects (Ibekwe, Ogbu, Uwalaka, Ngbede & Onyegbule, 2014). Mobolade, Ejemen, Rufus and Festus (2014) had also noted that P. guineense exhibited moderate level of insecticidal activity in effectively reducing Podagrica spp population in okra and had significant effect when compared with the untreated plots. Ukpai et al. (2017) recently reported high content of flavonoid in P. guineense seed extract and suggested that the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids and phenols may be responsible for the bioactivity and consequent mortality of Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky in maize stored with the botanical.

Pipe guineense treated plants also had less damaged leaves, which could be due to its repellent properties that protected plant leaves (Okunlola, Ofuya & Aladesanwa, 2008). The behaviour modification antifeedant and repellent effects of Piper - based extracts have been determined in greenhouse trials where seed extracts deterred lily leaf beetles, Lilioceris lilii, Scopoli and striped cucumber beetles, Acalymma vittatum Fabricius from damaging leaves of lily and cucumber plants, respectively (Scott, Jensen, Nicol, Lesage, Bradbury, Sanchez- Vindas, Povenda, Arnason & Philongene., 2004).

Plants sprayed with P.guineense performed marginally better than those sprayed with cypermethrin in some agronomic parameters, such as vine length, number of leaves and fresh weight of cucumber produced. P. guineense extract may have active principle that enhances crop growth. Enyiukwu and Ononuju (2016) have reported that cowpea seeds soaked in 10% aqueous suspensions of dried seeds of P. guineense had seed priming effects that enhanced germination, seedling vigour and crop performance in the field. Since the core importance of spray–protection with pesticides is to protect crops from being damaged and to improve yields (Mansour, 2004), P. guineense performed very well.

It has been observed that cypermethrin has an average half-life of 4-8 days on foliage (Leahey, 1985) and between 2- 4 weeks in sandy soils (Chapman & Harris, 1981), which makes it more persistent in the environment. Scott et al. (2004) and Scott, Jensen, Philogène and Arnason (2008) had observed that photo-degradation of piperamides, which is the active ingredient observed in studies of P. guineense, was virtually complete after six hours in sunlight. P. guineense extracts, could therefore, replace contact insecticides, especially neurotoxic compounds such as carbamates, organophosphates and pyrethroids, which mostly have developed resistance to insects. Added to this is the advantage of reduced risk to human health as P. guineense have had a safe history as food additives and spices (Scott et al., 2004).

In conclusion, this study shows that extracts of Piper guineense, which is readily available in the local markets all year round, could form the basis for a successful formulation and commercialization of biopesticides and assist in arresting the prevailing dumping of thousands of tons of poisonous pesticides on agricultural soils. Since the plant is used for

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culinary purposes and in ethno-botany for the treatment of various ailments, it is safe, easily biodegradable and environmentally friendly. It is recommended that the insecticidal potential of P. guineense extracts be further explored in order to ascertain application rates that will be more efficacious in the control of insect pests of cucumber while attaining optimum yield in commercial cucumber production in Nigeria.

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