ABSTRACT Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an economically and nutritionally important crop. However, cowpeas are subject to attack by insect pests that reduce the quality nutritional value of grains during storage. The use plant-based products as alternative control has been highlighted for their low toxicity on environment human health. This study aimed evaluate bioactivity different plant extrac...

Twenty-two cowpea genotypes, comprising eighteen elite lines from the CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, and three improved cultivars from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture were evaluated for their susceptibility to infestation and damage by the storage beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus F. The assessment of their relative susceptibilities was based on oviposition, me...

One important subject is to determine the effectiveness of conservation areas, where different management categories are being applied, to maintain effective sexual reproduction in plants and their interactions with animal groups. To evaluate this issue, we compared the phenology, reproductive success, pollination and pre-dispersal seed predation of the legume tree Senna multijuga in two differ...

In this study, we have investigated the limits of taxonomic conservatism in host-plant use in the seed-beetle genus Bruchus. To reconstruct the insect phylogeny, parsimony and multiple partitioned Bayesian inference analyses were conducted on a combined data set of four genes. Permutation tests and both global and local maximum-likelihood optimizations of host preferences at distinct taxonomic ...

In response to food limitation, many insects have evolved developmental plasticity in which larvaematureat a smallerbody size.Herewe investigate theconsequencesof this smallerbody size for development of individuals in the next generation, after resource competition has been relaxed. Families of the seed beetle Stator pruininus (Horn) reared at high density ('20 eggs per seed) matured at a subs...