EFFECT OF LOCALLY SOURCED PRESERVATIVES FROM NEEM SEED OIL AND NIGERIA BLACK SOAP ON WOOD DESTROYER AGENT (INSECTS)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to develop, produce and evaluate the performance specification of local wood preservative and to determine the degree of its effectiveness on different types of insects such as ants, beetles and termites as well as the shelf life span of the preservative. Research and developmental design was adopted for the study. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. 200m1 of neem seed oil was mixed with 100m1 of liquid black soap and water in appropriate ratio 2:1 to form the preservative which was spread on 43 different types of insects such as ants, beetle and termites. Mean rating and percentage were the statistical tools used to answer the research questions. The findings reveal among others that the major properties of the preservatives were neem seed oil 66.4% and soap 23.49%. The average effectiveness of the preservative was 92.21%. The preservative was very effective on all the three types of insects. Its shelf life was between 7-14 days. Based on these findings of the study, six recommendations were made which among others include: the developed wood preservative should be subjected to quality assessment by the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and also the Federal Government of Nigeria should put in place a mechanism for the commercialization of the developed wood preservatives.