ALTERNATIVE APPLICATION TO SYNTHETIC CHEMICAL PESTICIDE IN KOLA NUT PRODUCTION USING Mitragyna .....

The most devastating kola pests are the kola nut weevils (Balanogastris kolae (Desbr) and Sophrorhinus spp.). Balanogastris kolae (Desbr) has been identified as the most devastating field to store pest, causing 30-70 percent of stored nuts to be destroyed. As a result, farmers and dealers turn to synthetic pesticides like alachor, DDT, aldrin, and chlordane, which have major environmental and health consequences for humans and are also costly. As a result, research into natural plant extracts as a low-cost post-harvest herbicide with minimal environmental impact has become critical. The pesticidal activity of acetone, petroleum ether, and ethanolic extracts of Mitragyna stipulosa and Ataenidia conferta was investigated. When utilised to treat the kola nut seed for 24 hours, a petroleum ether extract of Mitragyna stipulosa offered the highest weevil reduction at a concentration of 100 percent. Mitragyna stipulosa extract was found to have modest pesticidal activity, with IC50 values of less than 50 g/ml. The extracts contained terpenoids and steroids, saponins, and tannins, according to phytochemical analysis. Because of the large differences between the various extract treatments, Mitragyna stipulosa appears to have the potential to be employed as a pesticide alternative by kola growers in order to reduce their complete reliance on synthetic insecticides during production and storage.

Please see the link :- https://www.ikprress.org/index.php/JACSI/article/view/3927