| Résumé: | Pesticides are widely used among farmer to control pests and increase productivity of farm. In 2021, total pesticides application in agriculture was 3.54 million tonnes around the world. The high toxicity of chemical pesticide can be harmful to the environment and human health. Biopesticides have gained popularity in recent years and are considered safer than synthetic pesticides. Unfortunately, biopesticides contribute only 1-5% of pesticides on the global market due to certain obstacles such as variability in knowledge and different regulations in any country. A study about the application of botanical pesticides as an alternative way to reduce the uses of synthetic pesticide in pest controlling on chilli plant was conducted. In the study of effectiveness of selected botanical extract as biopesticide and quality enhancer on chilli plant, firstly the effects of botanical pesticide in managing selected pests in chilli plant was identified. Secondly, the effects of botanical pesticide on chilli growth quality were determined. Thirdly, characteristic of botanical extract was identified. The experiments were conducted at the research farm of the Faculty of Bioresources and Food Industry at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Besut Campus. Both the experiments were laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with four replications. In the first experiment, the treatments consisted of Gadong tuber, neem leaves, papaya leaves, chilli pepper, garlic tuber and control. In this study, aqueous extraction of plant part was obtained by grinding 1000 g plant parts with mixture of 750 ml distilled water. Solution obtained from the plant extracts were fermented about three weeks at room temperature. Each of the plant extracts was diluted with water in a 1:5 ratio before was applied to the plants. The data of pest number was collected at week 0, 1, 4 and 7 after planting. Gadong tuber was showed to be the best treatment as the growth enhancer on Capsicum annuum and also become the most effective treatment as botanical pesticide in reducing and controlling the population of thrips, mites, whiteflies and aphids on chilli plant. In the second experiment, the treatments involve combination of potential product from experiment 1. Result from the second experiment showed that combination of Gadong tuber, neem leaves and chilli from the third treatment showed to be the most effective as the growth enhancer to chilli plant and also showed the most effective treatment as botanical pesticide in managing selected pests of chilli plant. Combinations of botanicals using Gadong tuber, neem leaves, chilli pepper and papaya leaves were shown to contained high nutrients (N, P and K) and n-fixers and p-solubilizers as compared to combinations using garlic. The finding from this study will able to help farmers to use botanical pesticides as the substitute of using chemical pesticide in pest controlling.
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