Abstract

Mohammed N. Abdulaziz, Makongoro Abeid and Bahati Shivji Peploe

In order to assess the performance of a new Imidacloprid 700 g/kg insecticide (TANPRIDE 70 WDG) in flue cured tobacco production and recommend appropriate dosages to farmers in tobacco production, on-farm experiments were conducted for three years at Udongo village in Sikonge district of Tabora region and onstation verification trial was done at TORITA site in Tabora region. A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 replications was employed to evaluate the introduced TANPRIDE 70 WDG insecticide in tobacco production. The gross plot size was 24 m2 , the net plot was 12 m2 and the spacing was 50 × 120 cm. There were 6 treatments as follows: Control (untreated); TANPRIDE 70 WDG, 150 gha-1.; TANPRIDE 70 WDG, 200 gha-1 ; TANPRIDE 70 WDG, 250 gha-1 ; Confidor WDG, 750 gha-1 (standard insecticide) and Selecron, 1500 mlha-1 (standard insecticide). NPK (10: 18: 24) basal fertilizer was applied followed by top dressing of CAN (27% N) at the amount of 4 bags and 1 bag (50 kg) of NPK and CAN per acre respectively. Green and cured tobacco yields showed significant difference (P<0.05) among treatments. TANPRIDE products outyielded controls (untreated and commercial chemicals). Controls had the highest insects followed by Selecron. TANPRIDE chemicals had the lowest insects’ number. By adopting TANPRIDE product (200 gha-1 ), a farmer can obtain 2380 kgha-1 of cured tobacco leaves equivalent to 5,743,488 Tsh/ha to pay for production costs and other incentives. TANPRIDE products were highly recommended in tobacco growing areas so as to reduce production costs and increase farmers’ income.