Toxicity of Leaf Extracts of <i>Ricinus communis</i> L. (Euphorbiaceace) Against the Third Instar Larvae of <i>Musca domestica</i> L. (Diptera: Muscidae)

Abstract

The housefly, Musca domestica is a ubiquitous insect that has potential to spread wide variety of pathogens to humans and livestock animals leading to diseases and huge economic losses in developing countries. Flies have resisted human attempts to control them since antiquity and the problem of fly resistance to synthetic insecticides had resulted in need to develop biopesticides as an alternative management tool. Plant product are the most promising sources and under extensive trials for their insecticidal activity against various insect species. This study evaluated the efficacy of crude extracts of the castor plant Ricinus communis against Musca domestica by using dipping and thin film technique. The laboratory bioassay in both techniques resulted in considerable larval and pupal mortalities indicating toxicity of plant extract against the fly. Besides, the larval mortalities the extracts induced developmental aberrations such as reduced pupations and non emergence of adults.The results indicate that the plant extracts contain certain active principles which interfere with the hormonal control of development affecting the life cycle of the fly. It can be concluded that crude extract of R. communis can be effectively used as in controlling fly populations of M. domestica as the safer, ecofriendly and economic alternative to synthetic insecticidal agents.

The Toxic Spectrum of Ricinus Communisand Zingiber Officinalis Essential Oils against Musca Domestica L.

“…The toxicity recorded in this study support different previous studies represented toxicity on larvae and adults as well as on fertility of plant origin essential oils against M. domestica (Pavela, 2008;Morey and Khandagle, 2012;Singh and Kaur, 2016;Walia et al, 2017). A previous study using R. communis extract recorded LC50 value of 353.4 ppm after 72 h of exposure to the extract and reported that the extract contained the ribosome inactivating protein ricin (Alvarez Montes de Oca et al, 1996).…”

“…A previous study using R. communis extract recorded LC50 value of 353.4 ppm after 72 h of exposure to the extract and reported that the extract contained the ribosome inactivating protein ricin (Alvarez Montes de Oca et al, 1996). A study using the chloroform leaves extract of R. communis predict larval and pupal mortality as well as reduction of pupations and non-emergence of adults of M. domestica as regard to the potent insecticidal component of R. communis (ricinine) confirming the effect on the housefly life cycle (Singh and Kaur, 2016) because ricinine has maximum solubility in chloroform (Rao, 1945). The gas chromatographic analysis with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) detected the main constituents of the R. communis essential oil, α-thujone, 1,8-cineole, α-pinene, camphor and camphene (Kadri et al, 2011;Zarai et al, 2012).…”

“…In addition, flavonoids of R. communis reported to affect the insect ecdysone-20-monooxygenase, which is responsible for the synthesis of 20 -hydroxyecdysone the precursor of insect growth hormone-ecdysone responsible for regulating the insects life cycle by initiating molting to grow into adults. Hence, the hindrance in the hormone synthesis affects the duration of prepupation period and adult emergence rates (Singh and Kaur, 2016).…”

“…A large number of plants have shown the remarkable insecticidal activities (Seo and Park, 2012;Singh and Kaur, 2016). Essential oils showed relatively non-toxic to fish, birds and mammals and easily biodegrade in the environment, turning them into good bio pesticides (Kumar et al, 2012).…”

Chemical analysis of Ricinus communis L. (Euphorbiaceace) seed kernel extract and its in-vitro toxicity in two Podagrica Species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

“…An investigation by has demonstrated the potential of castor against the damaging activity of termites on Mangifera indica and Pinus longifolia, reporting significant weight loss in the woods. Furthermore, it has been reported that the various active substances in castor could potentially interfere with the life cycles of many insect pests, including Callosobruchus chinensis (Uspani et al, 2003), Cosmopolites sordidus (Tinzarra et al, 2006), Spodoptera frugiperda (Rossi et al, 2012) and Musca domestica (housefly) Singh and Kaur (2016).…”