A Comparative Study on the Effect of Pheromone Baited Traps and Acalypha indica Extract on Leucinodes orbonalis

Abstract

Botanical insecticides are naturally occurring chemicals extracted from plants. This study aims to analyze the insecticidal activity of bioactive compounds present in the aqueous extract of Acalypha indica and to analyze the efficacy of pheromone baited traps in integrated pest management. In this study, various bioactive compounds present in the aqueous extract of Acalypha indica were analyzed by phytochemical screening and GC-MS analysis. The molecular properties of the compounds identified from GC-MS analysis were screened based on Tice rules using bioinformatics molecular property analysis tools. Out of 8, four compounds namely oleic acid, phytol, flavone and estra-1, 3, 5[10]-trien-17a`-ol strictly follows Tice rules. The aqueous extracts were used for the screening of insecticidal activity against 3rd instar larvae of Leucinodesorbonalis by diet incorporation bioassay. On observation it was revealed that the aqueous extract of Acalypha indica induce antifeedant effect, which was very efficient at 80% concentration. Three pheromone baited traps namely yellow sticky trap, bucket trap and sleeve trap were used to evaluate its efficacy in pest management. From the evaluation, out of three pheromone baited traps, sleeve traps performed statistically better than others, trapping higher population of adult Leucinodes orbonalis. The sticky traps captured the highest number of non-target insects, mostly being ants, flies, and beetles. In bucket trap moderate non-target populations were present. Thus, on the comparative study the preliminary screening shows that Acalypha indica can be used to derive a novel insecticide and pheromone baited sleeve trap shows positive integrated pest management.