Vol. 7, Issue 11, Part B (2025)

Several species of insects have been documented to cause significant post-harvest losses, spoilage, and lowered demand for beans in the market, causing huge economic losses for farmers in Botswana. Their management has, for years, relied on the use of synthetic grain protectants. However, the use of synthetic grain protectants has raised serious environmental and human health concerns, and have promoted interest in the use of plant derived grain protectants as safer alternatives. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of garlic, peppermint, marigold and fever tea ground plant powders on germination of different bean seed genotypes. The experiment was arranged in a split plot design, laid out in a Complete Randomized Design with 3 replicates. The study revealed that seeds treated with garlic, fever tea and marigold recorded the highest average germination percentages which were 100, 99.17 and 97.5 percent respectively, while peppermint recorded an average germination percentage of 85.83 percent. The untreated control recorded the lowest average emergence of 77.5 percent. This implies that plant powders have a positive effect on the germination of seeds of the different bean genotypes assessed. Since this study was undertaken in the laboratory, further research and field testing is necessary to confirm these laboratory findings.