Efficacy of lemon grass (cymbopogon citratus) on the hide beetle (dermestes maculatus) in smoke-dried african catfish (clarias gariepinus) in jos north lga of plateau state, nigeria

Fish losses to Dermestes maculatus infestation is one of the biggest problems of fish farming, hence this study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of Cymbopogon citratus against Dermestes maculatus fed on smoke-dried Catfish. Fresh and Dermestes maculatus infested samples of Catfish were procured. The fresh Catfish were smoked traditionally and then oven dried at 60°C for 1hour to remove excess moisture. Twenty-eight of un-infested Catfish were placed in 1000mL plastic jars and Cymbopogon citratus powder was added at the rate of 2.5g, 5.0g, 7.5g, and 10.0g. The fish and the powder were thoroughly mixed and six newly emerged adults were introduced into each jar, while to a different set of experiment, six 3rd-4th instar larvae of Dermestes maculatus were introduced into each jars and then covered with muslin cloth. The experiments were arranged in a Completely Randomized Design with each treatment replicated three times. Data on mortality of the larval Demestes maculatus was collected for 21 days while data on adult mortality was collected for 7 days at 48 hours interval. The data were subjected to ANOVA and means were separated using Duncan multiple range test. Cymbopogon citratus powder showed significant effects on Dermestes maculatus larvae and adult, where the highest mortality was recorded at the following doses of 2.5 and 5.0g (72.2% and77.8% respectively) for the larvae and 5.0 and 10.0g (22.2% and 16.7%) for the adults. This study revealed that Cymbopogon citratus has insecticidal potentials and therefore, be used to preserve Catfish shelve life.