Appraisal of Postharvest Treatments for Control the Sesame Seed Bug Elasmolomus sordidus (Hemiptera: Lygaidae) at Sheikan Locality, North Kordofan State,Sudan

Abstract

This study was conducted in Sheikan locality at North Kordofan State, Sudan in season 2016/2017 to assess post harvest treatments for the control sesame seed bug a harmful pest on sesame crop. Two experiments were done. In the first experiment three treatments were used on sesame at harvest time when sesame crop stacked in bundles to dry and infestation with sesame bug built up in the field, in the first treatment three bundles of sesame crop were put on the ground, in the second treatment three bundles of sesame put on the ground surrounded by Wood Ash and, in the third treatment three bundles of the sesame crop surrounded by pesticide beside the control which kept away from infestation. In the second experiment 5 treatments were used in the first one the sesame crop bundles were put on the ground (Zero level) and in the treatments from second to the fourth Wooden benches (Rakoopa) with four levels of height were used 25 Cm; 50 Cm, 75 Cm and 100 Cm and the control was kept away from infestation. The experiments were executed using Randomized Complete Design (RCD) with 4 replicates. After infestation one kilogram of sesame seed was collected weekly for a month and then transferred to the lab and 1000 seed weight obtained then loss in seed weight Percentage calculated. Results showed that when infestation of the bug built up in the field the seeds stored on the ground surrounded by Wood ash had been affected significantly (P< 0.05) with obvious reduction in weight of 1000 seeds while the seeds surrounded with pesticide showed no reduction in weight in comparison with the control in the first experiment period and, in the second experiment no significant loss in weight observed during the examination period in wooden benches (Rakoopa) with different levels in comparison with the control and loss in seed weight of 1000 sesame seeds reached 13.7% by the end of the month when bundles left on the ground (zero level) and significantly differed (P < 0.05) from the control and the wooden benches (Rakoopa) treatments. It is clear use of wooden benches (Rakoopa) treatments kept the crop save from the sesame seed bug damage even in low height (25 Cm) although, use of pesticide gave the same result but the expected hazard of chemical residues upraise the use of wooden benches (Rakoopa) and might b