Abstract

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of botanical, chemical and cultural methods on the management of termite in seedling beds of hot pepper in Tanqua Abergelle district of Sheka Tekli during 2015-2016. The experiment comprised of treatments including Neem Leaf extract, wood ash, Dursban and control and each treatment was applied at 40 kg ha-1, 10000 kg ha-1, and 0.5 L ha-1 respectively. The experiment was designed through Randomized Complete Block Design and each treatment was replicated thrice. The treatments were applied directly on seedling beds while seeds were sown. Data was collected after six weeks of sowing pepper seeds. The numbers of healthy seedlings were significantly affected by the application of treatments. Hence, the highest number of seedlings at six weeks after sowing (1658250 seedlings ha-1) and transplanting (1505490 seedlings ha-1) were recorded on plots treated with dursban and neem leaf extracts respectively. Likewise, lower NUMBER of seedlings damage was recorded on beds treated with dursban (504510 seedlings ha-1) and Neem leaf powder (623100 seedlings ha-1) compared with untreated experimental plots. The highest net return (74020 Birr) with a marginal rate of return (42.64 Birr) was obtained with application of neem leaf extract. Thus, the application of neem leaf extract alone or interchangeably with dursban should be promoted to farmers of Tanqua Abergelle district and other location with the same environmental conditions to easily manage termite on the seedling of hot pepper.

Key words: Termite, pepper seedling, damage percentage, control method.