REPELLENT ACTIVITY OF CARDAMOM, GINGER AND NUTMEG AGAINST CERTAIN INSECT PESTS

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1 International Journal of Zoology and Research (IJZR) ISSN(P): ; ISSN(E): Vol. 5, Issue 6, Dec 2015, 1-6 TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. REPELLENT ACTIVITY OF CARDAMOM, GINGER AND NUTMEG AGAINST CERTAIN INSECT PESTS RAMSHA ABID 1 & SABA BUTT 2 1,2 Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, Pakistan 2 Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore, Pakistan ABSTRACT Insect pests are responsible for crop wastage, storage losses and tree damage causing significant economic losses all over the world. Common control mechanisms include use of synthetic chemical agents to repel or kill the insect pests which are found to be associated with health and environmental hazards. Certain plants are historically used for their repellent properties against insects, particularly in storage of food crops and considered to be generally safe for use. This study was planned to investigate the repellent activity of certain plant extracts against three common insect pests. Plant extracts were prepared and stored at 4 C before use. Insect repellency was tested against insects. Repellency scores were recorded and statistically analyzed. Results showed that these plant extracts demonstrates effective repellent activity against carpenter ant, mango mealybug and red flour beetle in various concentrations. With increasing concentrations, percent repellency reached 100% after 4-5 hours of exposure. The most effective extract against these insects was nutmeg which showed 100% repellency against all insects after 4 hours of exposure. Ethanolic extracts showed better repellent activity than aqueous. It is concluded from the results that these plants are natural sources of repellent material and are potential sources of biological insect repellents. Original Article KEYWORDS: Insect Repellency, Medicinal Plants, Insect Pests, Plant Extracts Received: Oct 19, 2015; Accepted: Nov 14, 2015; Published: Nov 20, 2015; Paper Id.: IJZRDEC20151 INTRODUCTION Insects cause problems of crop wastage, storage losses and also affect plants and trees causing significant economic losses. These are widespread in nature and can attack crops, stored grains and other crops and trees and plant causing damage and huge losses (Herren, 2004). This situation makes the safe storage of crops as one of the serious concerns as well (Haq, et al., 2005). Insects damage crops in various ways; by causing a disease or by damaging the fruits and plants leave these unable for consumption. Not only they consume food but also contaminate it with insect fragments and feces (Sheaffer and Moncada, 2012). Red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) cause huge damage to the stored crops particularly wheat grains causing huge losses of stored grain which is a serious concern as whet serve as a material acting as a staple food for various parts of the world (). Common control mechanisms include use of synthetic agents to repel or kill insects. These chemicals have their own damaging effects on the crops, stored material and health. Biological control methods have their own benefits like lesser losses, minimum adverse effects on crops / stored crop editor@tjprc.org

2 2 Ramsha Abid & Saba Butt material, fruits and much less damaging for health and environment (Rechcigl and Rechcigl, 2000; Hawkins et al., 1999). Plants and herbs are commonly used for their repellent properties against various insects particularly in storage of food crops. Leaves of neem plant are used in Asia for repelling insects from stored crops. The plant extracts are also used to repel insects and even larger animals like reptiles and rodents like onions and peppermint oil. Gandhi et al., 2010 showed that leaves of Punica granatum and Murraya koenigii proved to be protective for grains and higher concentrations lead towards more strong action against Tribolium castaneum. These effects are strong enough and these have plants have shown potential to replace the hazardous chemical pesticides. Guruprasad and Pasha, 2015 demonstrated insect repellent and insecticidal properties of various plant materials against pests of stored products. Their study suggested that these plant extracts are eco-friendly and equally effective against the insect pests hence serve for environmental and crop protection purposes side by side. Iqbal et al., 2010 also shown strong insect repellent activity of various plant materials against red flour beetle and show these to be promising candidates for insect control. The present study investigated repellent activity of three plant extracts including cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), ginger (Zingiber officinale) and nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) against three common insects including Carpenter Ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus), Mango Mealybug (Drosicha mangiferae) and Red Flour Beetle (Tribolium castaneum). METHODS Insect Collection Insects were collected from local sources. Carpenter ants (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) were collected from around a tree near Badian Road, Lahore. Mango mealy bugs (Drosicha mangiferae) were collected from a tree in Kinnaird College, Lahore and Red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) were isolated from rice bought from a local store. Plant Collection Cardamom, ginger and nutmeg were obtained from local vendors located in Badian Road, Lahore. Extract Preparation The plant materials (cardamom, ginger and nutmeg) were washed thoroughly with water to remove any contamination and air dried. Two kinds of extracts were prepared; one with the help of water (aqueous extract) and the other with the help of ethanol (ethanolic extract). Extracts of cardamom and nutmeg were prepared using the following method: Aqueous Extract: Aqueous extracts were prepared by following method: Ten (10) grams of crushed plant materials in 100 ml of distilled water were treated with slow heat for six (6) hours. Every two (2) hours, it was filtered through eight (8) layers of muslin cloth and centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 15 minutes and supernatant was collected for further processing. After 6 hours (3 centrifugations), supernatant was collected and concentrated to 1/4 th of original volume. It was then autoclaved at 121 C (15 lb/in 2 pressure) and stored at 4 C before use (Parekh et al., 2005). Ethanolic Extract: Ten (10) grams of crushed plant material was kept in 100 ml of ethanol for 24 hours. Thereafter, it was filtered through eight (8) layers of muslin cloth and centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 15 minutes. The supernatant was collected and the solvent was evaporated to make the final volume 1/4 th of the original volume. It Impact Factor (JCC): NAAS Rating: 2.59

3 Repellent Activity of Cardamom, Ginger and Nutmeg Against Certain Insect Pests 3 was stored in an air-tight bottle at 4 C (Parekh et al., 2005). Extract of ginger was prepared using the following method: Aqueous Extract: Ginger rhizome was peeled and washed, cut into pieces and sundried for one week. The dried ginger was ground using mortar and pestle. Twenty grams of the ground material was soaked in 100 ml of hot sterile water and allowed to stand for 72 hours. The crude extract was obtained by filtration (Onyeagba et al., 2004). Ethanolic Extract: Ginger rhizome was peeled and washed, cut into pieces and sundried for one week. The dried ginger was ground using mortar and pestle. Twenty grams of the ground material was soaked in 100 ml of 90% ethanol in conical flasks sealed with foil and allowed to stand for 72 hours. Then it was filtered to obtain crude ethanolic extract (Onyeagba et al., 2004). Repellency Testing For repellency testing filter paper disks were prepared following the method of MsDonald et al., Whatman filter paper No 1 disks (9 cm in diameter) were prepared and divided into two halves. Extracts (1 ml) of specific concentrations were uniformly applied on the half disks and then air dried at room temperature. Other half was left blank. Both halves were joined with cellotape. The disks were placed in petri dishes. Then 5 insects were released on the strips carefully. Insects were free to move on the both halves. Repellent behavior was observed after every hour for five (5) hours. Percent Repellency Calculation Percent repellency was calculated using following formula: PR = (No of insects on untreated half No of insects on treated half / total No of insects) x 100 Statistical Analysis The data was analyzed using ANOVA and then post-hocs using SPSS v20.0. RESULTS Results of the study demonstrated that both aqueous and ethanolic extracts proved to be effective in repelling insects of all the three types including Carpenter Ants (Camponotus pennsylvanicus), Mango mealy bugs (Drosicha mangiferae) and Red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum). Repellency increased with the increased concentration of the extract in each case. Data in Table 1 shows that aqueous extract of cardamom repelled red flour beetle effectively with negligible revisit rate of the area by the insects after 3 hours. At 1 % and 1.5% concentration all of the insects were repelled and did not revisit the area. Ethanolic extract of cardamom repelled all the insects (red flour beetle) in 2 hours and there was no revisit observed. Ginger and nutmeg extracts also proved to be effective against red flour beetle, demonstrating high repellency upto 100% at 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% after 3 hours. No significant difference was found between the effectivity of extracts while comparing the three concentrations with each other after applying ANOVA following Tukey s test and DMRT. editor@tjprc.org

4 4 Ramsha Abid & Saba Butt Plant Material Table 1: Percent Repellency Shown by Red Flour Beetle (Tribolium castaneum) Due to Different doses of Aqueous and Ethanolic extracts of Cardamom, Ginger and Nutmeg (Aq = aqueous, Et = Ethanolic) Percent Extract Average Percent Repellency After 1hr 2hrs 3hrs 4hrs 5hrs Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Cardamom 0.5% % % Ginger 0.5% % % Nutmeg 0.5% % % *Significant at P<0.05 Data in Table 2 shows that aqueous extract of cardamom repelled mango mealybugs but they returned to the site and revisited the treated area even at 1 % and 1.5% concentrations. Ethanolic extract of cardamom, however, repelled all the insects better than aqueous extract and was able to repel all insects after 3 hours. Ethanolic ginger extract also proved to be effective against mango mealybug, demonstrating high repellency up to 100% at 1.5% after 3 hours. Aqueous extract, however, was not proved to be very effective but it has shown variable activity with insect revisits to the treated area. No significant difference was found between the effectivity of extracts while comparing the three concentrations with each other after applying ANOVA following post-hoc tests. Ethanolic nutmeg extracts also proved to be effective against mango mealybugs, demonstrating high repellency upto 100% at 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% after 3 hours. Aqueous extract, however, was not proved to be very effective but it has shown variable activity with insect revisits to the treated area. After 4 hours, aqueous extract was able to repel all insects. Plant Material Table 2: Percent Repellency shown by Mango Mealybug (Drosicha mangiferae) Due to Different Doses of Aqueous and Ethanolic Extracts of cardamom, Ginger and Nutmeg (Aq = aqueous, Et = Ethanolic) Percent Extract Percent Repellency 1hr 2hrs 3hrs 4hrs 5hrs Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Cardamom 0.5% % % Ginger 0.5% 46.66* % % 46.66* Nutmeg 0.5% % % *Significant at P<0.05 Table 3 shows that carpenter ants were repelled by all the three plant extracts but at different rates. All ethanolic extracts were able to repel all insects after 4 hours with just one exception. Aqueous extract shown variable activity but were able to repel all insects at 5 hours. Nutmeg extracts were proved to be most effective against this kind of insect as ethanolic extract shown 100% repellency after 1 hour. Ginger proved to be least effective as it has shown 100% repellency Impact Factor (JCC): NAAS Rating: 2.59

5 Repellent Activity of Cardamom, Ginger and Nutmeg Against Certain Insect Pests 5 only after 5 hours with some revists. Plant Material Table 3: Repellency shown by Carpenter Ants (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) Due to different Doses of Aqueous and Ethanolic Extracts of Cardamom, Ginger and Nutmeg (Aq = Aqueous, Et = Ethanolic) Percent Extract Percent Repellency 1hr 2hrs 3hrs 4hrs 5hrs Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Aq Et Cardamom 0.5% % * % Ginger 0.5% 20* * % 46.66* % Nutmeg 0.5% % % *Significant at P<0.05 DISCUSSIONS Insect pests are one of the biggest problems in agriculture and food / crop storage. Insects cause huge losses every year causing economic and food shortage problems all over the world. Traditionally, synthetic chemicals are used to repel or kill insects but these chemicals have been reported to cause both health and environmental hazards as these contaminate the ground water, environment and disposing off these in huge quantities is one of the biggest problems. The other option available is to use pesticides extracted from natural sources like plant materials. These are considered comparatively safe to use. Hence, in this study three plants (cardamom, ginger and nutmeg) were selected to test their insect repellent properties against three types of insect pests (carpenter ants, mango mealybug and red flour beetle). Results of the present study showed that all of the three extracts are effective in repelling the insects in lower concentrations like 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%. These plant extracts have shown strongest activity against red flour beetle and successfully repelled all the experimental extracts within 3 hours. The biological control is in coordination with previous studies which have shown the effective control of the red flour beetle. Iqbal et al., 2010 have shown that various plant extracts repelled red flour beetle successfully at various concentrations. Guruprasad and Pashs, 2015 also showed effectivity of various plant extracts against red flour beetle. Islam et al., 2000 also demonstrated the effectivity of indigenous plant materials against red flour beetle. These plant materials also showed effectivity against mango mealybug and carpenter ants but lesser in comparison to red flour beetle. In the other words, the latter two insects proved to be more resistant to the plant extracts. Ethanolic extracts of all the plant extracts have shown stronger activity against all the insects demonstrating repellency of up to 100% even in very short time which is an indication of nature of the potential compound present in these plants. This action most probably indicates that the effective material in extracts is most probably soluble in an organic solvent. This leads to the future perspective to separate fractions of the ethanolic extracts to isolate potential candidates for specific effective compounds in these plant materials. editor@tjprc.org

6 6 Ramsha Abid & Saba Butt CONCLUSIONS Based upon results of this study, it is concluded that cardamom, ginger and nutmeg demonstrate potential to act as biocontrol agents against red flour beetle in particular and also against mango mealybugs and carpenter ants. It is also clear from the results that ethanolic extracts are far more effective in biological control in comparison to aqueous extracts. REFERENCES 1. Gandhi, N., Pillai, S. and Patel, P Efficacy of pulverized Punica granatum (Lythraceae) and Murraya koenigii (Rutaceae) leaves against stored grain pest Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Int. J. Agric. Biol., 12: Guruprasad, B.R. and Pasha, A Biological Screening of Clerodendron inerme leaf extracts for repellency and toxicity potentials against stored product insects. Mun. ENT. Zool. 10(2): Haq, T., Usmani, N.F. and Abbas, T Screening of plant leaves as grain protectants against Tribolium castaneum during storage. Pakistan J. Bot., 37: Hawkins, B. A., Mills, N. J., Jervis, M. A. and Price, P. W Is the Biological Control of Insects a Natural Phenomenon? Oikos, 86(3): Herren, R.V The Science of Agriculture A Biological Approach. 2nf edition. Thomson Learning, Inc., USA. 6. Iqbal, J Qayyum, A and Mustafa, S. Z Repellent Effect of Ethanol Extracts of Plant Materials on Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Tenebrionidae: Coleoptera). Pakistan J. Zool., vol. 42(1), pp Islam, A.T.M.F., Akhter, S. Islam, S. and Huque, R Repellent and feeding deterrent effects of some indigenous plants against red flour beetle, Tribolium casteneum (Herbst) (Cleoptera: Trenebrionidae). Pak. J Agri. Sci., 37(1-2): Mcdonald, L.L., Guy, R.H. And Speirs, R.D., Preliminary evaluation of new candidate materials as toxicants, repellents and attractants against stored product insects 1. USDA Marketing Respectively. Report, 882 pp. 9. Onyeagba, R.A., Ugbogu, O.C., Oleke, C.U. and Iroakasi, O Studies on the antimicrobial effects of garlic (Allium sativum Linn.), ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and lime (Citrus aurantifolia Linn.). African Journal of Biotechnology, 3(10): Parekh, J. Jadeja, D. and Chanda, S Efficacy of aqueous and methanolic extracts of some medicinal plants for potential antibacterial activity. Turkish Journal of Biology, 29: Rechcigl, J.E. and Rechcigl, NA Insect Pest Management Techniques for Environmental Protection. CRC Press, LLC, USA. 12. Sheaffer, C.C. and Moncada, K.M Introduction to Agronomy Food, Crops and Environment. 2 nd Edition. Delmar, Cengage Learning, USA. Impact Factor (JCC): NAAS Rating: 2.59