Comparative Performance of Traditional Post-harvest Practices on the Development of Callosobruchus maculatus in Vigna unguiculata and Phaseolus vulgaris Seeds in Paoua (Central African Republic)

Abstract

Cowpea seeds are an important source of nutrients for human and animal. However, part of the seed production is lost due to insect attacks, mainly by the weevil Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), (Fabricius) a major pest of stored cowpeas. The objective of this work was to study the impact of traditional pest management on the development of C. maculatus infestation. The insects were collected on 100 g of infected seeds of Vigna unguiculata and Phaseolus vulgaris in post-harvest traditional systems from farmers in different villages of Paoua. The insect’s size was determinate with the standard DSLR camera combined into a 3D model using a computer. A Generalize Linear Model (GLM) with the Poisson error distribution was fitted to data to analyse the impact of storage conditions on the insect growth in the presence of the two species of bean. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the C. maculatus development in traditional post-harvest practice showed that the body length of C. maculatus was a very highly significant variation according to the traditional post-harvest practice (P < 0.001). Though the effect on the body width of the interaction count, storage and species was a very highly significant variation (P < 0.001) and implies that the body length of C. maculatus development depends on the nature of traditional post-harvest practice. Vigna unguiculata is the most sensible to the attack of C. maculatus for these two post-harvest practices (polypropylene bag and plastic barrel). Though the plastic barrel limits the development of C. maculatus in the sense of length and width.