XI Congreso de SEAE: «Agricultura ecológica familiar».

Vitoria-Gasteiz (Álava), 1-4 octubre 2014

Effect of intercropping and soil amendment on the occurrence

of key insect pests of cabbage and their natural enemies
Okwae K1*, Sefakor D1, Enyonam R1, Fiati S1
1Soil and Irrigation Research Centre, Kpong. Institute of Agricultural
Research, College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences, University of Ghana.
P.O. Box LG 68, Accra, Ghana
*kokwaefening@ug.edu.gh

Cultural practices such as intercropping and organic soil amendment could

be explored to effectively manage insect pests of cabbage in the field, as
chemical control has become unsustainable. An experiment was undertaken
during the major and minor seasons of 2013 at Soil and Irrigation Research
Centre, Kpong, belonging to the Coastal Savanna agro-ecological zone of
Ghana, to investigate the effectiveness of intercropping and organic soil
amendment in the management of key insect pests of cabbage. The treatments
included three cropping systems (sole cabbage, sole onion and cabbage-onion
intercrop) and five levels of soil amendments (rice husk bio-char 10 t/ha, 20
t/ha, poultry manure 10 t/ha, 20 t/ha and bio-char + poultry manure 20 t/ha).The
insect pests’ encountered included diamondback moth (dbm), cabbage aphid
and cabbage webworm. The natural enemies observed were ladybird beetles,
hoverflies and spiders. The response of soil amendment, cropping system, and
their interaction on multiple head formation (attributable to the cabbage
webworm) was significant during both seasons, and was higher in sole cabbage
than the intercrop, thereby affecting their economic value. The result of soil
amendment on the occurrence of dbm larvae was significant as well as the
interaction between soil amendment and cropping system during the major
season. However, the outcome of soil amendment and cropping system on the
incidence of cabbage aphids was not significant for both seasons. Generally,
the effect of soil amendment, cropping system and their interaction on the
occurrence of the natural enemies of the pests was significant for the major
season.

Keywords: Sole onion, sole cabbage, intercropping, soil amendment, insect

pests.