Kayode David Ileke

Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries, Faculty of Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, PMB 001, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria
Author    Correspondence author
Bioscience Methods, 2014, Vol. 5, No. 2   doi: 10.5376/bm.2014.05.0002
Received: 30 Mar., 2014    Accepted: 08 Sep., 2014    Published: 20 Nov., 2014

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Ileke, 2014, Anti-nutritional factors in cowpea cultivars and their effects on susceptibility to Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) [Coleoptera: Bruchidae] infestation, Bioscience Methods, Vol.5, No.2 1-8 (doi: 10.5376/bm.2014.05.0002)

Thirty-one cowpea cultivars from IITA in Nigeria were investigated for their antinutritional factors to determine their susceptibility to cowpea bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) [Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae] infestation. Percentage seed damage and pest tolerance, Phytate, tannins and oxalate contents were determined using standard methods. The result showed significant variations in both % seed damage and pest tolerance among the cowpea cultivars tested. Cultivars MIT04K-399-1, MIT07K-299-92, IT96-610, MIT06K-281-1, MIT07K-187-24, MIT06K-121, MIT07K-304-9 and EIT07K-291-69 were the least susceptible to C. maculatus with 100% pest tolerance. The result of anti-nutritional factors clearly showed that cowpea seeds contain more phytate than oxalate and tannin. The mean phytate content in seeds was (3.10 mg/g) which was about three times higher than that of oxalate (0.78 mg/g) and five times higher than tannins (0.31 mg/g). Cultivar MIT04K-339-1 recorded the highest amount of phytate while cultivar MIT03K-337-6 recorded the lowest. The amount of oxalate ranges from 0.42 mg/g to 0.92 mg/g. Cultivar IT96-610 recorded the highest amount of tannin while cultivar MIT03K-337-6 recorded the lowest amount of tannin. This study revealed variations in the anti-nutrients composition among the cowpea cultivars. These variations contribute to the susceptibility of cowpea to C. maculatus infestation.

Callosobruchus maculatus; Cowpea seeds; Pest tolerance; Phytate; tannins; Oxalate; Susceptibility indices