Phytochemical composition, toxicity, and repellent effects of medicinal plants Peganum harmala, Pterocarya fraxinifolia, and Tanacetum parthenium extracts against Sitophilus oryzae L.

Abstract

Sitophilus oryzae is an important pest of stored rice and is usually controlled by the use of aluminum phosphide, which is dangerous to humans. Botanical insecticides deemed promising alternatives in controlling this pest. In this study, extracts of Peganum harmala seeds, Pterocarya fraxinifolia leaves, and Tanacetum parthenium flowers were evaluated against S. oryzae adults. Phytochemical analyses showed that steroid, terpenoid, tannin, alkaloid, and flavonoid are present in the extracts. Bioassays revealed repellency effects of all extracts, besides, P. harmala extract exerted significant mortality (93.33 ± 6.6%, LC₅₀: 521.06 mg/ml) hence it may have applications in preventing infestation of stored rice by S. oryzae.

Highlights

• Plant extracts studied in this research efficiently repel rice weevil.

• These plant extracts show significant toxicity against rice weevil.

• Alkaloid, steroid, terpenoid, tannin, and flavonoid are present in extracts of these plants.

Keywords:

• Peganum harmala
• Pterocarya fraxinifolia
• Tanacetum parthenium
• repellency
• rice weevil
• medicinal plant
• phytochemical composition

Geolocation information

The Department of Medical Entomology and the Department of Pharmacognosy are located in a common building in Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences (36:736°N; 53:093°E). The faculty members of these two groups have started studying plant extracts to control pests in the form of students’ dissertations and will continue to do so strongly.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The authors received financial support from the Deputy for Research and Technology of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari (Grant number: 2135).