1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
According to (Acknerman and Jannifer, 2002), maize or corn is a large, annual monoecious grass of the small tribe may deals. It is one of the oldest and most widely cultivated world's cereals, which provides food for man and feed for livestock.
In many part of West Africa, this is a staple food and is sometimes grown on a garden scale where it cannot be grown as a farm crop. It is an important source of carbohydrates and if eaten in the immature state, it provides useful quantities of vitamin C. The yellow grain varieties also contain vitamin A. There are several types of maize grown for various purposes. The varieties are distinguished by the type of endosperm/pericarp, crown appearance and the grain colour. About six varieties of maize are known; these are pop corn, flict maize, dent maize, semi flint, floury (flour) maize and sweet corn.
1.2 Popcorn Objective of Study
This variety of maize possesses the characteristics of popping when it is heated. The pericap is very thick with thick and hard starchy endosperm. The crown when matured appears pointed or rounded.
Flint corn:
This maize variety has small hard starchy endosperm but with a very thick corneous starch layer. The pericarp is thick and the maize generally hard this makes it resistant to weevil attack. It is usually rounded.
Semi-Flint:
This is a milder form of the flint maize. Here, the corneous layer less in thickness. It has hard corneous pericarp and a relatively larger amount of starchy endosperm.
Dent Maize
This is characterized by a depression of the top due to the presence of soft starch which is able to dry and shrink around the crown. As such, the crown is usually dented. The corneous layer is to the sides and the starchy layer protrudes to the crown with only a small layer or pericarp.
Floury Maize
This variety is soft due to the presence of starchy endosperm. It has a very thin, stretched pericarp and a large amount of white starchy endosperm, which is usually soft. This type of maize is very susceptible to weevil attach (Kochhar, 2001).
Sweet Corn
Here, the starchy endosperm is sugar because in conjunction with starch granules, there are many sugary granules in the endosperm. However, when immature the grains are transparent and usually wrinkle on drying. The pericarp is mediumly thick and endosperm glassy.
Maize originated from Mexico and it has become a particular important cereal crop.
In North America and Africa, maize was introduced into Africa by the Portuguese between the 16th and 18th centuries and is now the continent's premier cereal crop. Kenya and South Africa grow the most in Africa because of its sensitivity to drought conditions. It cultivation in semi arid zones can cause problems (Purseglove, 2002).
Cultivation of Maize
Maize is grown extensively throughout the world on a wide range of soil types and under a variety of climatic conditions. (Brenneman and Dale 2001), it requires a wide range of well-drained soils. Sandy or gravely soils. It requires a generous supply of moisture during the growing season with high temperature. It requires a minimum temperature of 100C and a maximum of about 400C.
The good performance of maize does not depend much on the amount of rainfall but on the distribution. The annual rainfall should not be below 500mm and it is essential for a moisture supply to be maintained throughout the growing period of four months. Drought leads to very poor yield and the most critical period of maize is between about fifteen days before tasseling and fifteen days after tasseling, maize grows well in soils within the pH range of 5.0 — 7.0
Harvesting of Maize
Maize can be harvested dry or green. Majority of maize in West Africa is harvested for immediate in West Africa is harvested. For immediate consumption. The green maize is harvested when the silks have just brown.
In many parts of the world, maize is harvested green for silage. Dry maize is harvested when the silks are completely dried up and the leaves and husks are also dry which is about thirty days after tasseling. It there is risk of bird attach, itcan be harvested earlics and then sun dried or tied over a fireplace. The maize co is traditionally harvested by hand by simply breaking of the cobs (Onyenuchega, 2000).
1.3 Scope of Study
This study focuses on the Study on the Use of Vegetable Oils To Protect Maize From Sitophilus Zeamays (weevil).
1.4 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials.
1.5 Significance of Study
The following are the relevance of the Study on the Use of Vegetable Oils to protect maize from Sitophilus Zeamays (weevil) research work;
- The study provides adequate information for maize protection maize from weevil using vegetable oils,
- The study provides information of how to make use maize in making diesel, and biofuel.
- For farmers who are already cultivating the crop, the study will go a long way in providing information on ways of boosting production.
Beside the study will serve as a reference material for subsequent researchers.
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