Recently, botanical insecticides have more alertness in pest control
programs for its various advantages. Alhagi maurorum plant (camel thorn)
one of the important medicinal plants in Fabaceae. The phytoacaricidal
activity of A. maurorum plant extracts was evaluated against Panonychus
citri. The aerial part of A. maurorum was extracted by methanol, petroleum
ether, and water separately using the soaking and Soxhlet extraction. The
rate of female daily deposited eggs varied considerably according to A.
maurorum plant extracts and the sublethal concentrations. A few numbers
of eggs laid were observed with the methanol extract (0.73 eggs), petroleum
ether (2.16 eggs), and aqueous (4.31 eggs) at LC75, while the high number
observed in the untreated female groups (29.37 eggs) and Selecron
insecticide (6.99 eggs). The same pattern was occurred in the hatchability
with the tested bio-acaricides compared with Selecron insecticide and
untreated ones. Based on sublethal dose LC25, LC50, and LC75, the tested
acaricides was significantly reduced the number of hatched eggs, where it
reached (30.7, 13, 5.6%), (37.6, 21.6, 15%) and (44.3, 30.8, 23.8%) for
methanol, petroleum ether, and aqueous plant extract, respectively
compared with untreated groups (91.2%). Concurrently, data showed that
methanol extract has a significantly impacted on the reduction of viability
(58.16%) and reproductive process while the effect was less with the
aqueous plant extracts (46.21%). Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry
(GC-MS) analysis identified various bioactive complexes (phenols, tannins,
and fatty acids) with insecticidal activity. The peak of compounds was
higher in Benzene, (1-butylhebtyl)- undecane, 5-phenyl (8.75 %), Maltol
4H-pyran-4-one,3-hydroxy-2-methyl(2.74%) 9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic
acid, linolenic acid (2.45%) in petroleum ether extract and 4H-pyran-4-
one,2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl (3.66%), 2-Furancarboxaldehyde, 5-(hydroxymethyl) (3.33%), Bis(2-ethylhexyl)
phthalatehalic acid, bis(2-ethylhexyl)ester (5.58%) in methanol extract. 2,3-
Dimethylpenzene-1,4-dicarbonitrile (20.26%), 4-Fluoroveratrole,
fluorobenzene,3,4-methoxy (19.52%) and Hexadecanoic acid (0.87 %).
Finally, we concluded that methanol, petroleum ether, and aqueous extracts
screened showed phytoacaricidal activity against mite P. citri |
