Full Length Research Paper

Importance of husk covering on field infestation of maize by Sitophilus zeamais Motsch (Coleoptera: Curculionidea) at Bako, Western Ethiopia

Girma Demissie¹, Tadele Tefera²* and Abraham Tadesse³

¹Bako National Maize Research Program, P.O. Box 03, West Shoa, Ethiopia.

²Georg-August-University, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural Entomology Section, Grisebachstr. 6, 37077 Goettingen, Germany.

³Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, P.O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: tadeletefera@yahoo.com.

Accepted 3 September, 2008

An experiment was conducted to determine the importance of husk covering on field infestation of maize by the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, at Bako, western Ethiopia. Five maize genotypes, G1 (SZSYNA99- F₂ -33-4-2 X SC₂₂), G2 (CML-197 X SZSYNA99- F₂ -33-4-1), G3 (SZSYNA99-F₂ -79-4-3 X CML-197), G4 (BH-140) and G5 (Bukuri) were used. There were differences among the maize genotypes in their resistance to the maize weevil. The genotypes, G2, G3 and G5 had good husk characteristics (extended tip and tight husk) and flint grains resulted in low number of weevils and damaged ears. On the contrary, the genotype G1, with dent-flint-grain, poor husk characteristics (bare tipped and loose husk cover), harbored the highest number of weevils and suffered ear damage followed by the genotype, G4. Therefore, husk tip extension and husk tightness were the two most important characters conferring resistance to maize ears against the maize weevil in the field.

Key words: Host resistance, husk covering, maize, Sitophilus zeamais.