AGENDA FOR MARIE MILLER, MISS EARTH NGIERIA 2013

On Saturday December 7th 2013 the next Miss Earth would be crowned at the F1 Hotel, Phillipines and she would be taking over from the current crown holder, Tereza Fajkisova of Chech Republic. For Nigeria, the journey to the finale in the Phillipines has started  with Marie Miller crowned as the Miss Earth Nigeria 2013 last Sturday 22nd September 2013. Congratulations Marie, and here’s hoping she clinches the ultimate crown.

Marie Miller, Miss Earth Nigeria 2013

Miller (Photo Credit: Bella Naija)

The Miss Earth pageant is a show put together in the last 13 years by Carousel Productions Inc. With a track record in mounting world-class beauty pageants, Carousel decided to reinvent and improve the concept of beauty competitions for the new millennium. It is the belief of Carousel that a beauty queen would be a good and effective advocate of worthy causes since many people aspire to become queens. One of such worthy causes is environmental conservation. Carousel consequently launched the Miss Earth Beauty Pageant in 2001.  The Pageant is a beauty event which raison d'etre was to have its candidates and winners actively promote and get involved in the preservation of the environment and the protection of Mother Earth. Apart from a strong emphasis on environmental protection, MISS EARTH also aims to showcase and promote various tourist destinations.In the Pageant, 80 to 90 candidates from all over the world compete on beauty and knowledge of environmental issues each year. The winner of MISS EARTH is a gloal ambassador for environmental protection campaigns.

TABLE 1: PREVIOUS  MISS EARTH TITLE HOLDERS

SN	NAME	TITLE YEAR	COUNTRY
1	TEREZA FAJKISOVA	2012	Czech Republic
2	OLGA ALAVA	2011	Ecuador
3	NICOLE FARIA	2010	India
4	LARISSA RAMOS	2009	Brazil
5	KARLA HENRY	2008	Philippines
6	JESSICA TRISKO	2007	Canada
7	HIL HERNANDEZ	2006	Chile
8	ALEXANDRA BRAUN	2005	Venezuela
9	PRISCILLA MEIRELLES	2004	Brazil
10	DANIA PRINCE	2003	Honduras
11	WINIFRED OMWAKWE	2002	Kenya
12	CATHARINA SVENSSON	2001	Denmark

 

 

MARIE MILLER, THE TASK AHEAD

With her win Marie Miller received a 2013 Model Toyota Avensis and one year salary of three million naira. Eyeing the coveted world Miss Earth 2013 means hard work, and the work is truly worth it. The incumbent Title Holder, Tereza Fajkisova, has been traveling around the world just as the previous winners (Table 1) and engaged in many environmental capaign activities including Tree Planting. Tereza has travelled to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Marutitius, Cote D’Ivore, South Sudan, Kenya, Ghana, Finland, Indonesia, to mention a few.

 

Chief Newton Jibunoh; FADE

The miss Earth Nigeria 2013 will face the onerous task of visiting place of environmental interests and disasters in Nigeria to keep faith with the dictum that charity begins at home. For instance she should be a living tool to call attention with visits to the Niger Delta for the monumental pollution of the sea and inland waters by the multi nationals, particpation in tree planting excercises in various states, tin minning woes in Jos, growing refuse heaps in major cities of Nigeria including Lagos. Her visible presence and audible voice would be invaluable in collaborations with environmental conservations organizations including those of Chief Newton Jibunoh’s Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE),  Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), and Nigeria’s National Park Service (NPS) and so on.

BIOACTIVITY OF EXTRACTS OF SOME NIGERIAN PLANTS ON INSECT PESTS OF STORED GRAINS

BY

ABIODUN AKINPELU DENLOYE

ABSTRACT

Five of the plant species used by farmers in southwestern Nigeria, Chenopodium ambrosioides (L), Tephrosia vogelii (Hook), Allium sativum (Linn), Allium fistulosum (Linn) and Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides (Linn) were tested for their bioactivity against Sitophilus zeamais Motsch, Callosobruchus maculatus F., and Tribolium casteneum Herbst in laboratory and field bioassays. The selected plants were tested as powders, aqueous extract, ethanol extracts and volatile essential oils for toxicity, ovicidal, antiovipositional, and larvicidal effects as admixtures, dipped grain treatments or fumigants. On the basis of 48 hr LC₅₀ values Z. zanthoxyloides powder was the most toxic to S. zeamais (0.012 g/kg), T. casteneum (0.041 g/kg) and C. maculatus (0.05 g/kg) followed by C. ambrosioides with 0.49 g/kg (S. zeamais), 1.634 g/kg (C. maculatus) and 2.57 g/kg (T. casteneum) 48 h LC₅₀ values.  Ethanol extract of all test plant species were more toxic than their equivalent aqueous extracts. Values of the 48 h LC₅₀ show that Z. zanthoxyloides ethanol extract was more toxic to C. maculatus (0.021 g/L) than S. zeamais (0.035 g/L) or T. casteneum (0.085 g/L). Insecticidal activity of Z. zanthoxyloides ethanol extract persisted for 14 days post-treatment whereas there was measurable loss of activity for C. ambrosioides and T. vogelii respectively at 24 h post-treatment while A. sativum and A. fistullosum activity was lost as from 12 h post treatment. The essential oils of A. sativum, A. fistullosum and C. ambrosioides demonstrated fumigant toxicity against C. maculatus with a 24 hr LC₅₀ value of 1.33 μl/L) and S. zeamais (1.90 μl/L). Grain treatment with ethanol extracts resulted in significant reduction (p > 0.05) in the number of eggs laid by C. maculatus; fewer eggs were laid in Z. zanthoxylum-treated than Chenopodium extract treated grains. Only C. ambrosioides volatile oil gave appreciable ovicidal action against eggs of C. maculatus on cowpea (LC₅₀ = 2.066 μl/L).   Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides gave protection from insect infestation in field tests for up to 180 days post-treatment just as pirimiphos methyl (Actellic) while protection with C. ambrosioides failed 90 days post treatment in treated cowpea and maize grains. Grain treatment did not result in loss of viability in Z. zanthoxyloides – treated grains but treatments in C. ambrosioides – treated grains did. The results obtained from this study show that the test plant species especially Z. zanthoxyloides, C. ambrosioides and T. vogelii can be exploited as sources of locally available alternative insecticides for the protection of grains against attack by C. maculatus and S. zeamais. The study further shows that the volatile oil of C. ambrosioides can be used as fumigant to reduce the number of eggs laid by C. maculatus or reduce their hatchability thus reducing the number of offspring in the succeeding generation.

 

ABSTRACT OF THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph. D) IN ZOOLOGY (2008)