Natural plant protection products (known as biopesticides), derived from natural materials (plants, bacterial strains, and certain minerals) that can be used to control pests, are an alternative to plant protection chemicals (known as pesticides) due to certain advantages: less toxic to humans and the environment, no release/leaching of harmful residues, and usually much specific to the target pests. This review focuses on the systematization of information highlighting the main advantages related to the natural plant protection products used, the extractive methods of obtaining them, their physical-chemical analysis methodology, the specific constituents responsible for their pesticide effects, the mechanisms of action, and methods for direct application on vegetable crops or on seeds stored in warehouses, in order to eliminate the adverse effects occurred in the case of plant protection chemicals use. Special attention has been accorded to natural plant protection products from the spontaneous flora of Moldova (Romania’s macroeconomic region NE), which can be considered a resource of valuable secondary metabolites, especially in the form of vegetable essential oils, with biological effects and biopesticide routes of action. All presented information concludes that biopesticides can successfully replace the chemical plant protection products on small farms and especially in silos (seeds and cereals).
This study investigates structural and adsorption properties of the powdered waste shells of Rapana gastropod and their use as a new cheap adsorbent to remove reactive dye Brilliant Red HE-3B from aqueous solutions under batch conditions. For the powder shells characterization, solubility tests in acidic solutions and X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform IR spectroscopy (FT-IR) and thermogravimetric analyses were performed. The results revealed that the adsorbent surface is heterogeneous consisting mainly from calcium carbonate layers (either calcite or aragonite) and a small amount of organic macromolecules (proteins and polysaccharides). The dye adsorptive potential of gastropod shells powder was evaluated as function of initial solution pH (1-5), adsorbent dose (6-40 g L À1 ), dye concentration (50-300 mg L À1 ), temperature (5-608C), and contact time (0-24 h). It was observed that the maximum values of dye percentage removal were obtained at the initial pH of solution 1.2, shells dose of 40 g L À1 , dye initial concentration of 50-50 mg L À1 and higher temperatures; the equilibrium time decreases with increasing of dye concentration. It is proved that the waste seashell powder can be used as low cost bioinorganic adsorbent for dyes removal from textile wastewaters.
Two classical methods were applied for preparation of four plant extracts, i.e. heat reflux extraction and maceration, exactly for wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), oregano (Origanum vulgare) and primrose (Primula veris), plants from the spontaneous flora of Moldova area (Romania). The prepared extracts were preliminarily characterized by some known physical-chemical analytical methods used to evaluate various quality indicators of plant extracts (e.g. total polyphenols and flavonoids concentrations, density, viscosity) as well as comparative analysis of their UV-Vis and FTIR spectra. These vegetal extracts are non-toxic, and may have insecticide effect on the field of agricultural culture and storage pests.
The purpose of this article was to evaluate the application of different plant extracts with bioinsecticidal action and antioxidant activity for plants and soil protection, by substitution of the application of synthetically formulated pesticides with eco-friendly compounds. In this framework, this research focused on the utilization of plant extracts from the spontaneous flora of Moldova (Romania) as bioinsecticides for the control of field pests of the species Leptinotarsa decemlineata and their antioxidant activity. Plant extracts of oregano (Origanum vulgare), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), and cowslip (Primula veris) were assessed for their antioxidant activity by the microplate spectrophotometric-based method (for polyphenols and flavonoids content and for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenger activity) and were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy spectra. To evaluate the bioinsecticidal properties of the plant extracts, the mortality (%) and neuroleptic manifestations appearing in the middle of the monitoring period for larvae and adults of the Leptinotarsa decemlineata species were identified. Mortality (%) was statistically analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the resulting experimental results were compared with the LSD-Fisher’s test (p < 0.05). The highest mortality (%) was observed after 24 h of treatment with extracts of Origanum vulgare at 100% concentration, while the maximum effect was recorded after 48 h for Origanum vulgare at 60% and 100% concentrations.
In order to understand the adsorption process mechanism and to evaluate the adsorptive properties of the citrus powder, the equilibrium, thermodynamic, and kinetic of the adsorption of the anionic reactive dye Orange 16 on the powder of orange seeds were studied using different theoretical models. The equilibrium adsorption data analyzed by Freundlich, Langmuir, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models revealed that Langmuir model best describes the dye sorption processes. The monolayer adsorption capacity of 1,111.11 mg/g reached at 25˚C and the values of the mean free energy (E) obtained from the DubininRadushkevich model (5.45-6.48 kJ/mol) indicated a porous structure of the adsorbents and suggest that the physical adsorption is the main adsorption type involved in this studied processes. The values of the thermodynamic parameters (ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS) showed that the adsorption of tested dyes was feasible, spontaneous, and endothermic under examined conditions. The FTIR spectroscopy was used to characterize the adsorbent before and after loading the dyes in order to obtain additional information about possible ways to bind the dyes by the adsorbent. The obtained results showed that orange seeds, a waste material from food industry could be considered an efficient adsorbent for the removal of some textile dyes (especially with relatively low molecular weight) from aqueous media.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.