Abstract

OPTIMAL ORGANIC INSECT PEST CONTROL FOR MAJOR FARM CROPS IN SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA: ORTHOGONAL ARRAY APPROACH.

1Okegbade, A.I., 2Otekunrin, O.A., and 3Shittu, M.D.

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Abstract Insect pest control is a very important aspect of crop management system in agriculture. The common technique in use by Nigeria famers is the inorganic system of insect pest control. This research work therefore focuses on the development of an organic optimal insect pest control management system for major crops in south-west Nigeria. The Taguchi approach was used to construct the Orthogonal Array (OA)(9,4,3,2) and SAS 9.1.3 was used for its generation. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v21) was utilized to unveil the value labels of the generated codes of the orthogonal arrays. The generated arrays were used to classify selected crops into Life Span, Number of seed leaf and Economic importance. The study was able to classify 38 major crops grown in south-West Nigeria based on their lifespan, Number of seed leaf and Economic importance. Also, for each crop, the optimal pest control method was obtained from the array. The study was able to construct an OA (9,4,3,2) in this research work. The generated array is a guide for farmers and planners on the best organic insect control strategy for specific crops in south-west Nigeria. It is also a wider crops? classification tool.

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