Insecticidal Efficacy of Microbial-Mediated Synthesized Copper Nano-Pesticide against Insect Pests and Non-Target Organisms.

Perumal Vivekanandhan,Afroja Rahman,Eliningaya J Kweka,Sarayut Pittarate,Adelina Thomas,Kannan Swathy,Patcharin Krutmuang

doi:10.3390/ijerph181910536

Abstract

Currently, medical and stored grain pests are major concerns of public health and economies worldwide. The synthetic pesticides cause several side effects to human and non-target organisms. Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) were synthesized from an aqueous extract of Metarhizium robertsii and screened for insecticidal activity against Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus, Tenebrio molitor and other non-target organisms such as Artemia salina, Artemia nauplii, Eudrilus eugeniae and Eudrilus andrei. The synthesized copper nano-particles were characterized using, UV-vis spectrophotometer, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDaX), High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (HR-SEM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) analysis. Insects were exposed to 25 μg/mL concentration produced significant mortality against larvae of A. stephensi, A. aegypti, C. quinquefasciatus and T. molitor. The lower toxicity was observed on non-target organisms. Results showed that, M. robertsii mediated synthesized CuNPs is highly toxic to targeted pests while they had lower toxicity were observed on non-target organisms.

Highlights

IntroductionMosquito vectors are distributed abundantly in tropical and sub-tropical regions and transmitting several pathogens to humans and animals
We evaluated the acute toxicity of copper nanoparticles synthesized with M. robertsii against larvae of A. stephensi, A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus, T. molitor and non-target organisms such as A. salina, A. nauplii
Entomopathogenic fungal-derived culture filtrate-derived green pesticides (CuNPs) have been found highly useful for controlling mosquito larvae populations in the field

Summary

Introduction

Mosquito vectors are distributed abundantly in tropical and sub-tropical regions and transmitting several pathogens to humans and animals. They transmit several vector borne diseases including, dengue, malaria, yellow fever, filariasis and recently zika virus [1]. Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium parasite carried by female Anopheles mosquitoes, filariasis by female Culex and Anopheles mosquitoes while dengue, yellow fever and zika are transmitted by Aedes pp. Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) is a stored grain pest [4]. It damage to several economically important food grains such as, Zea mays, Glycine max, Triticum aestivum [5]. T. Molitor caused 20% yearly losses in stored grains product in worldwide [6]

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Conclusion