EFFECTS OF LEAVE AND BARK ASH OF AZADIRACHTA INDICA EXTRACTS AGAINST INSECT PEST OF AMARANTHUS HYBRIDUS L

A field study was carried out to assess the efficacy of some botanicals in the control of field insect pests of Amaranthus hybridus . Dry leaf and bark ash extract of Azadirachta indica served as treatments which were compared with Lambdacyhalothrin and a control. The experiment was fitted into a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data collected were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance and significant different means were separated using Fishers Least Significant Difference (LSD) test at 5 % level of probability. The results revealed that treated plants generally performed better than the untreated plants as they were taller, had more leaves, branches, wider stem girths and gave higher fruit yield. bark ash extract of Azadirachta indica performed better in most parameters measured. The results indicate that leaf and bark ash extract of Azadirachta indica if properly harnessed can be used as a biopesticide in the control of field insect pest of A. hybridus . Data were collected on total number of leaves, number of damaged leaves, percentage leaf damage, plant height, stem girth, and dry weight. Five leaves were randomly selected and tagged and for these measurements. The number of leaves produced per A. hybridus plant for each of the treatments was counted and the number recorded. The number of leaves holes a was also and the recorded as the number The percentage damaged was calculated as: Significant differences (P<0.05) were found among the treatments in the growth parameters assessed with the exception of the stem girth Plants sprayed with Lambdacyhalothrin had significantly the highest plant height, root length and dry weight while plants sprayed with the plant extracts had comparable values with the control plants. The results showed that the aqueous plant extracts exhibited some level of control of the field pests of A. hybridus as they recorded lower percentage leaf damage in relation to the control. Decrease in percentage leaf damage to the application of the plant extracts is an indication of reduced number of foliage pests of A. hybridus . It is also an indication that the extracts possess insecticidal effects in reducing insect attack. the result in this experiment conform with the of Aderolu et al decrease in insect population and number of