Browsing by Author "Maerere, Amon Petro"

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    Controlling Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) by Selected Crude Plant Extracts in the Laboratory and in the Screen House
    (David Publishing, 2019) Matendo, Rehema Esther; Nonga, Hezron Emmanuel; George, Bakari; Nabintu Bintu, Ndusha; Mwatawala, Maulid Walad; Maerere, Amon Petro
    Effects of Commiphora swynnertonii, Synadenium glaucescens and Allium sativum extracts on the tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) were evaluated on the adults and in screen house conditions. The adult stage was involved with 30 adults that were reared in an insectarium, the experimental design was a completely randomized design (plant extracts from three plants species  three doses of 2%, 4% and 8%). In the screen house, experimental dispositive was a completely randomized block design (two varieties of tomatoes  three plants extracts). Larval counts were performed after 0, 1, 2, 3 and 7 d of treatment, 40 tomato leaves (10  4 replicates) were randomly taken from each treatment. The mean percentage mortality of adults was recorded daily for 5 d. Results indicated that, each plant extract caused significant mortality to adults of T. absoluta after 5 d in comparison to the control. Leaf dipping against adult of T. absoluta proved to be the most effective for all plant extracts at 30%-100%. Commiphora resulted in the adults’ mortality of 100%. In the screen house Commiphora showed the high reduction of infestation for Tanya and Cal J varieties. Treatment with this plant extract resulted in the highest fruit yield and the lowest yield loss compared to all the plant extracts. C. swynnertonii extract is recommended into integrated pest management strategies for the control of T. absoluta.
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    Morphological characterization and yield of pepper (Piper nigrum L.) types grown in Morogoro District, Tanzania
    (CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, 2021) Shango, Abdul Jafari; Majubwa, Ramadhani Omari; Maerere, Amon Petro
    Background: Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is among key spice crops grown in Morogoro district of Tanzania. Most of the pepper types grown in the district are only known by their local names as Babu kubwa, Babu ndogo, Babu kati and Ismailia. This may limit information on germplasm collection or genetic resource for plant improvement and trade in markets with variety specifications. The aim of this study was to generate preliminary information of the pepper types based on their morphological characteristics for easy comparison with other known pepper varieties in the spices industry. Methods: The evaluation of pepper morphological characters was conducted following a randomized complete block design with three replications and four treatments (pepper types). Observations were recorded with respect to 28 characters (9 qualitative and 19 quantitative) which entail vegetative (8) and reproductive (20) traits. The quantita- tive data for vegetative, inflorescence and berry characters were subjected to analysis of variance. Mean separation test was conducted using Turkey’s Honest Significance Test at (α = 0.05). Correlation and regression analyses were performed to explore the relationship between yield and yield attributes of pepper. Results: Babu kubwa and Babu ndogo pepper types were characterized by erect and horizontal branching habit, whereas the others showed hanging habit. Babu kubwa had longer spikes (12.4 cm), leaves blade (17.9 cm), leaf petiole (2.8 cm), wider leaves (12.9 cm) and larger berries (5.8 mm) than all other pepper types. Babu kubwa and Babu kati had cordate and acute leaf bases, respectively while other types had round leaf base shapes. The highest number of flowers was recorded on Babu kubwa (93.5) and Ismailia (90.7) with spikes weighing 7.6 g and 7.5 g, respectively compared to other types. Babu ndogo and Ismailia had compact spikes, while other types had medium loose spikes. Babu kati had the highest number of spikes ­kg −1 (282.6) due its lower spike weight compared to other types. The highest weight of 100 fresh spikes (704.3 g) and 1000 fresh berries (164.2 g) was recorded on Ismailia. Spike length was significantly positively correlated to yield (r = 0.23, ­R 2 = 0.08, p < 0.001). However, yield had a significant nega- tive correlation with the number of spikes ­kg −1 (r = −0.85, ­R 2 = 0.017, p = 0.001) and fresh weight of 1000 berries (r = −0.91, ­R 2 = 0.003, p = 0.04). Conclusions: The pepper types grown in Morogoro district differed significantly based on most of the evalu- ated traits. This information can be used to formulate methods and strategies for conservation and in turn genetic improvement of the crop. Despite that the pepper types literary matched with characters of some well-known commercial varieties, confirmation of genetic relatedness is yet needed. Further studies need to be conducted in consecutive years and involve assessment of internal quality attributes. Other studies should encompass wider range of pepper types from other producing areas in Tanzania in order to establish their morphological distinctness, genetic diversity and interrelationships in relation to the globally known commercial varieties.