The Effect Of Sunflower Oil On Black-Eyed Beans

The data from this experiment seemed to show Callosobruchus maculatus oviposition occurred less on black-eyed beans when the legumes were covered with sunflower oil. In all trials, the least number of eggs were laid on the beans coated with 15 mL/kg sunflower oil, an intermediate number of eggs were laid on the ones coated with 5 mL/kg, and the most were laid on the cowpea without sunflower oil (Figure 4, Figure 5). No eggs were laid in quadrant C, which reinforces the idea that bean beetles will only lay their eggs on legumes (Table 1, Figure 5). The relative amounts of beetle eggs to concentration of sunflower oil, consistent throughout the experiment, seem to indicate that bean beetles oviposit less on beans coated in more sunflower oil.
The age of the C. maculatus specimens used is unknown, and if the beetles used were near the end of their lifespan, they would likely be less fertile and produce less eggs. Less eggs oviposited could exaggerate the apparent effect of the sunflower oil on the beans since less eggs could be produced in general. In addition, the population measured in this study was relatively small, so any variation in egg number for each quadrant would significantly affect the average. This can be seen in the slight overlap between error bars in Figure 5. The overlap between error bars implies that the difference between the categories may not be statistically significant, so further testing of the impact of sunflower oil on bean beetle oviposition should be conducted to clarify these results. However, since C. maculatus eggs seem to occur less on beans covered in higher concentrations of sunflower oil, greater concentrations of sunflower oil should also be tested to see if this effect becomes any more prevalent. In addition, due to the potential promise sunflower oil has as a cowpea protectant, the long term effects of sunflower oil on black-eyed beans should be examined to assess whether or not it could cause damage to the