Assessing the bioefficacy of botanical pesticides derived from ethanolic leaf extract of eight invasive plant species against the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)

ABSTRACT

In this study, eight invasive plant species were processed into botanical pesticides, and their bioefficacy was tested against the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae. The evaluated botanical pesticides showed high toxicity against adult females of T. urticae, where the mortality ranged from 39.5–99.5% in the treatment groups, while the mortality was 0.5% in the control. Moreover, the oviposition deterrence activity of the botanical pesticides was reflected by the lower number of eggs laid in the treatment groups (9.1–255.5 eggs) compared to the control (504.8 eggs). The ovicidal activity bioassay revealed that the hatchability of eggs following the application of botanical pesticides was reduced to 63.5–95.5%, while the hatchability was 98.8% in the control. However, the ethanolic leaf extract of Mimosa pudica seemed to be the most efficacious botanical pesticide in all parameters observed since it showed high efficacy even when applied at a concentration of 7.5 g/L instead of 10 g/L. Through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis, 15 phytoconstituents that might be responsible for the anti-mite features were identified. The botanical pesticides used in this study have the potential to be used as environmentally friendly measures to manage T. urticae particularly in organic farming.

KEYWORDS:

• Mortality
• oviposition deterrence
• ovicidal activity
• Mimosa pudica
• GC/MS
• organic farming

Acknowledgments

This research was fully funded by the Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia, through the “Hibah Profesor (Guru Besar) Fakultas Pertanian” scheme under the grant number 3454.10/UN10.F04/PN/2022, which is greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Retno Dyah Puspitarini: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Resources, Project Administration, Funding Acquisition, Writing – Review & Editing; Mileniawati Rohmah: Investigation, Data Curation; Ahmad Faiz Alghifari: Investigation, Data Curation; Nina Nuriyah Fatmawati: Investigation, Data Curation; Fatakhun Nazih: Investigation, Data Curation; Handika Prasetyo; Investigation, Data Curation; Raidah Karimah: Investigation, Data Curation; Tri Pramia Septemberrini: Investigation, Data Curation; Tita Widjayanti: Supervision; Silvi Ikawati: Supervision; Aminudin Afandhi: Supervision; Faiz Nashiruddin Muhammad: Formal Analysis; M. Bayu Mario: Formal Analysis; Ito Fernando: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Validation, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universitas Brawijaya [3454.10/UN10.F04/PN/2022].