Bioproduction of azadirachtin and its biological activity against Spodoptera littoralis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Pesticide Chemistry and Technology Dept., Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University

2 Crop Science Dept., Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University.

10.21608/jpces.2010.459120

Abstract

Many plant products possess properties that give the same effect of pesticides and are known to be used in pest management strategy. Currently, attention is being focused on the use of neem-based botanical insecticide.
Azadirachtin is highly interesting compound for both its complex chemical structure and its synthesis and for its biological properties. Callus produced from leaves of neem tree, Azadirachta indica A. Juss, produced in vitro
bionatural insecticide azadirachtin when grown in modifies MS medium. The optimum light condition for callus incubation and propagation was 2,000 lux, 16h. Azadirachtin isolated by standard procedure depend on solvent partition program. The crude extract amount was higher in methanol fraction (F3) compared to that in petroleum ether (F1) and methylene chloride fraction (F2) using TLC and UV-scanning and HPLC techniques for detection and determination of azadirachtin. It is interesting to observe that the methylene chloride fraction (F2) contained the highest concentration of
azadirachtin than the others (F1 0.245, F2 13.467 and F3 0.108 g/100g callus). The general growth inhibition percentages of azadirachtin on Spodoptera littoralis Boisd larvae in different fractions arranged between 61.8-57.6%. The required to kill 50% of the larvae (LT50) was 1.87 days for azadirachtin methylene chloride extraction, 1.99 days for petroleum ether of azadirachtin fraction and 2.17 for methanol fraction of azadirachtin, while neemazal takes 4.10 days to kill 50% of the tested larvae. The antifeedant percentage of azadirachtin in different fractions at 0.5 mg kg was studied using no-choice bioassay method. Antifeeding activity percentage of azadirachtin were 18.8% for petroleum ether fraction, 49.3% for methanol fraction and 59.4% for methylene chloride fraction while neemazal (5%) antifeeding activity percentage was 87.1%. The results of this study show that azadirachtin derived from neem leaves callus by tissue culture needs an
applied approach to produce the compound in a commercial production. 

Keywords

Journal of Pest Control and Environmental Sciences
Volume 18, Issue 1
2010
Pages 155-169

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