Effect of Plant Spacing on Abundance of Major Insect Pests of Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] and Crop Yield

F O Ajao, A A Osipitan, O R Pitan, O I Lawal

Abstract


Field studies were conducted during the wet and dry planting seasons of 2012 at Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta to evaluate the role of plant spacing at managing insect pests of cowpea and its effect on crop yield. Two cultivars of cowpea (Oloyin and Olo) were planted at five intra-row spacings of 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm, 50 cm and inter-row spacing of 75 cm. Three cowpea seeds were sown per hole and thinned to one seedling per stand at two weeks after sowing. The insects observed in the cowpea plots were; Ootheca mutabilis, Chrysolagria spp., Monolepta spp., Clasirptora spp., Megalurothrips sjostedti, Helopeltis bergrothi, Mylabris spp., Clavigralla tomentosicollis, Aspavia armigera, Riptortus dentipes, Nezara viridula, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Dysdercus spp. and Maruca vitrata. The effect of planting season on plant height, number of days to 50% flowering,  50% podding, length of pod, number of seed per pod, percentage pod damage, percentage leaf damage and weight of pod per plant was significant (P < 0.05) irrespective of planting season. Season also influenced the number of Chrysolagria spp, Megalurothrips sjostedti, Clavigralla tomentosicollis, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Nezara viridula, Helopeltis bergrothi and Riptortus dentipes. The effect of plant spacing on the number of all the insect pests found, length of pods and pod damage was not significant irrespective of planting season. Based on the results of this study, plant spacing is therefore not recommended as a control measure of insect pests of cowpea on the field.


Keywords


Agronomic parameters; cowpea; insect pests; planting season; planting spacing

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