insecticidal potential of chili pepper leaf extract against termites. The garden vegetables pepper, Capsicum annuurn, of the Solanaceae, or nightshade family, is grown throughout the world and produces not only the green, bell-shaped, sweet peppers that are common garden varieties, but also the hot peppers used for such spices as paprika, chili, and cayenne. Most cultivated peppers belong to one of two major groups. The Grossum group yields the globose, mild-flavored sweet-peppers and the pimiento, or Spanish pepper. The Longgum group produces the “hot chili” and cayenne peppers, several hundred varieties of which are cultivated in wanner regions. Longum peppers are characterized by their extreme pungency. They may be highly irritating when eaten fresh, and in western cuisines they are generally used for the most part in the form of spice powders made from the dried fruit. Paprika is obtained from a milder variety of hot pepper.
The chili pepper, or suing labuyo as many of us know it, is a favorite spice of many people around the world, including the Philippines. There are people who cannot eat anything without the taste of real hot pepper. Pepper have health-sustaining properties as well. They have been found to have rich Vitamin A and C contents. Here in the Philippines, even the leaves of the chili pepper are eaten as a vegetable. The goal of this project is to find out if an aqueous extract from chili pepper leaves have any insecticidal effect on insects, specifically termites. Termites are a common problem everywhere. They cause destruction in furniture, houses, or anything made of wood. If this research proves to be successful, there can now be an alternative solution to this problem and it is also possible that it can be used in the fight against other insect pest.
