A Comparative Study of Various Medicinal Plants against Prostephanus truncatus on Zea mays var. Azad kamal

Plants help in the sustenance of life on earth. However some pests like Prostephanus truncatus are harmful for crops as their larvae feed on the beans of the plants. These pests affect the quantity and quality of the plants and their products. Chemical pesticides are an option to deal with the pests but chemical pesticides harm the environment. They develop pest resistance and kill the non-targeted organisms too. So it’s the need of the hour to save plants by using alternate ways, which are environment friendly and are as effective as the chemical pesticide.

The present study has used the extracts from the following medicinal plants i.e Nigella sativa (Kalonji), Piper nigrum (Pepper), Illicium verum (Star anise), Trigonella foenum-graecum (Fenugreek) and Curcuma longa (Turmeric). The extracts from these plants were used for 4 times at an interval of 7 days to check the efficacy of these plants against Prostephanus truncatus on Azad Kamal, a variety of Zea mays. During the observation of results it was seen that Piper nigrum was most effective with 99% mortality after 4 treatments; followed by Illicium verum, Nigella sativa, Curcuma longa and Trigonella foenum-graecum with mortality rate of 97%, 92.3%, 87.5% and 76.3% respectively. Percent infestation reduced drastically when mixed extract of plants were used.