Background: Red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a serious agricultural pest of cucurbit plants. Chemical pesticides have been in practice for many years to control the pests. Recently, the plant essential oils were formulated as nanoemulsion, have gained interest for their effectiveness and eco-friendly nature. The current study was aimed to assess the efficacy of Mentha piperita nanoemulsion against an agricultural pest A. foveicollis.
Methods: M. piperita essential oil was analyzed by GC-MS technique. Ulrasonication method was used to formulate the nanoemulsion. The stable nanoemulsion was investigated and characterized by DLS. The efficacy of the nanoemulsion was screened against the pest of cucurbits, A. foveicollis at different concentrations and compared with its own bulk emulsion.
Result: In GC-MS technique, menthol was found to be the major component with the highest percentage of 16.47 and the nanoemuslion was prepared in different ratios comprising of peppermint oil, surfactant, acetone and water. The stable nanoemulsion was investigated and characterized by DLS with mean droplet size of 10.84nm, PDI was 0.1 and zeta potential was -45 mv, altogether proves to be the good stability of nanoemulsion. The Bioassay was conducted for about 96 hours and the highest mortality was recorded in the nanoemulsion than the bulk emulsion. The resulted LC50 value of nanoemulsion is 22.38% v/v is found to be effective than the LC50 value of bulk emulsion is 87% v/v, respectively. Thus, from the results obtained the nanoemulsion was found to be highly significance than that of the bulk emulsion. So, nanoemuslion may be used as an eco-friendly agent against the agricultural pest management.
Natural Insecticidal Activity of Mentha piperita (Peppermint) Oil Nanoemulsion against Agricultural Pest Aulacophora foveicollis (Red Pumpkin Beetle) for Environmental Sustainability
