Efficacy of medicinal plant extracts against Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus

Abstract

The Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, is among the most devastating termite pests. Natural products derived from plant extracts were tested in a discovery programme for effective, environment friendly termite control agents. Screening for anti-termitic activity of plant extracts with some known medicinal attributes could lead to the discovery of new agents for termite control. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-termitic activity of crude leaf hexane, ethyl acetate, acetone and methanol extracts of Andrographis lineata Wallich ex Nees. (Acanthaceae), Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Wall. ex Nees. (Acanthaceae), Argemone mexicana L. (Papaveraceae), Aristolochia bracteolata Lam. (Aristolochiaceae), Datura metel L. (Solanaceae), Eclipta prostrata L. (Asteraceae), Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Pers. (Fibaceae) and Tagetes erecta L. (Compositae) against C. formosanus. An impregnated filter paper no-choice bioassay method was followed. All the crude extracts showed anti-termitic activity in a dose-dependent manner and exhibited a significant activity after 24h and 48h of exposure; the highest termite mortality was found in leaf hexane extract of A. bracteolata, ethyl acetate extract of A. paniculata, D. metel, E. prostrata, methanol extract of A. lineata and D. metel after 24h (LD50=363, 371, 298, 292, 358 and 317ppm; LD90=1433, 1659, 1308, 1538, 1703 and 1469ppm), respectively. The hexane extract of T. erecta, acetone extract of A. mexicana, methanol extract of S. grandiflora and T. erecta showed activity after 48h (LD50=245, 253, 289, 409ppm; LD90=1378, 1511, 1508 and 2425ppm), respectively. Among the natural products tested, may provide a renewable source of safe natural wood preservatives. These findings corroborate traditional insecticidal application of selected plants and the results can be extended for the control of termites. The primary objective of the present study was to identify novel, natural chemotypes from biologically active crude plant extracts that may be useful as part of termite treatment regimens in their natural form or as synthons for structure–activity studies in the future. The results reported here open the possibility of further investigations of efficacy on their anti-termitic properties of natural product extracts.