INTENSIFICATION CAPACITY DEFENSIVE OF LAGENARIA SICERARIA (MOLINA) STANDLEY (CUCURBITACEAE) SENSITIVE ACCESSIONS TO INSECT PESTS BY THE PROVISION OF ORGANIC FERTILIZER

Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standley is cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seeds and high nutrition value. It represents a potential source of additional income to rural women who are the main producers. However, production of L. siceraria is characterized by low yields, mainly due to beetle foliar damage. The evaluation of foliar damage on different accessions was based on Proportion of Damage Foliar (PDF) and Severity of Damage (SeDa). Of all accessions, only NI431 had were a proportion of leaves destroyed below 50%. Leaf surface damage for this accession was less than 25%. In contrast, NI227, NI219 and NI180 were characterized by more than 80% of the attacked leaves. In the following investigations, the effect of the organic manure based on beef droppings on the intensity of the foliar damage on NI431 and NI227 accessions was realized. The use of cattle droppings significantly reduced the number of leaves destroyed and the extent of damage in the NI227. Beef droppings also improved the yield of the plants of NI227. The difference in yield for NI227 between the two treatments (fertilized and unfertilized) was 33.53%. These results showed that it is possible to improve the productivity of NI227 through the use of organic manure. In contrast to NI227, Severity of the Damage was the same for both NI431 accession treatments (fertilized and unfertilized). This result showed that NI431 accession would be tolerant of insect pest and that this tolerance is related to genetic and non-nutritional factors of the soil.