Browsing by Author "Mwatawala, Maulid Walad"

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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.
Effects of smoke, hexanal, and calcium chloride on post-harvest quality of oranges [Citrus x sinensis (L.) Osbeck] cvs Msasa and Jaffa under different storage durations and conditions in Tanzania
(The UWI, 2018) Baltazari, Anna; Mtui, Hosea Dunstan; Mwatawala, Maulid Walad; Chove, Lucy Mlipano; Sullivan, J. Alan; Paliyath, Gopinadhan; Subramanian, Jayasankar
Experiments were conducted to assess the effects of hexanal, calcium chloride, and smoke on the post-harvest quality of oranges under ambient (room) temperature (28±20C) and reduced temperature storage (18±20C) conditions on two varieties of sweet orange (Citrus x sinensis (L.) Osbeck) cvs ‘Msasa’ and ‘Jaffa’. Fruit were dipped in enhanced freshness formulation (EFF) containing hexanal as the key ingredient at 0.01%, 0.02%, and 0.04% (volume/volume), or calcium chloride solution at 1%, 2%, and 4% (weight /volume) for five minutes each, or subjected to a smoking regime, simulating a popular traditional practice, by burning 0.5 kg, 1.0 kg, and 1.5 kg of dried banana leaves, or left untreated (control). Various parameters including physiological weight loss, fruit firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), and the TSS/TA ratio were assessed to determine effects on post-harvest quality of fruit. Results indicate that hexanal and calcium chloride treatments significantly (p < 0.001) reduced physiological weight loss, maintained fruit firmness and significantly higher TSS in both varieties compared to smoke treatment and untreated controls. Reduced temperature storage also significantly (p < 0.001) lowered physiological weight loss of hexanal- and calcium chloride-treated oranges. Based on the results of this study, post-harvest dip treatments with hexanal solution at 0.02% or calcium chloride solution at 2% coupled with reduced temperature storage at 18°C are recommended to maintain the quality of fresh oranges in Tanzania. On the contrary, the application of smoke is highly discouraged as it reduces the quality of oranges.
Impact of cucurbit crop management techniques on the foraging behavior of honeybees and hoverflies in Morogoro, Tanzania
(BMC Ecology and Evolution, 2024) Rweyemamu, Elvillah William; Mwatawala, Maulid Walad; Tryphone, George Muhamba; Meyer, Marc De; Kabota, Sija; Bwire, Patroba Masatu
Background Poor agricultural practices have drastically threatened insect pollinators’ biodiversity. Little is known in Tanzania about how different agricultural practices affect pollinators’ foraging behavior. This study investigated the effects of the agroecological zone, season, cucurbit species and management practices on visitation frequency, visitation rate and time spent on cucurbit flowers by five pollinator species viz. Apis mellifera, Eristalinus megacepha- lus, Mesembrius caffer, Paragus borbonicus and Toxomerus floralis. The experiment was designed as a 5 × 3 × 3 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. GAMOUR-Agroecology was tested against conventional practices and untreated control. Results This study revealed significant effects of agroecological zone × season × cucurbit species × management practice on pollinators’ visitation frequency (p = 0.007) and time spent on flowers (p = 0.005). Also, agroecological zone × season × cucurbit species × pollinator species significantly (p < 0.0001) affected pollinators’ visitation frequency. Agroecological zones × season × cucurbit species × cucurbits management practices × pollinators significantly (p = 0.001) affected pollinators’ visitation rate. Apis mellifera was the most frequent visitor in Cucurbita moschata plots treated with GAMOUR- Agroecology in the plateau zone, also, visited higher number of Cucumis sativus plots under GAMOUR-Agroecology practices in the mountainous zone during the October–November season. Further- more, it has been found that pollinators spent much in cucurbit flowers on plots with GAMOUR-Agroecology prac- tices and control. Conclusions Pollinators’ foraging behavior were enhanced by GAMOUR-Agroecology practices. Therefore, this study recommended that cucurbit growers should consider management practices that positively influence pollinator foraging activities for sustainable cucurbit production