Insecticidal potentials of dry powder and solvent extracts of Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray flower against rice meal moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton)

Anotace: Post-harvest losses of agricultural produce due to storage food grain pests lead to detrimental effects on the economic growth of any nation. However, a solution to this is to rely on adapting necessary cultural operations and effective traditional remedies that are locally available, which are inexpensive for the control of pests. Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray is an invasive weed that grows along the roadside and wasteland in rural and urban areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the pesticidal efficacy of powder and extracts of T. diversifolia flower by using different solvents such as aqueous, methanol, chloroform, hexane, petroleum ether and ethyl acetate against rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica. The dry powder and extracts of T. diversifolia flower were tested to check the mortality of C. cephalonica eggs, larvae, and adults under the laboratory conditions (28 ±2 °C and relative humidity 65 ±5%). The mortality of the insect increased with an increase in the concentration of extracts. The results showed that the different solvent extracts of T. diversifolia flower were significantly more effective than the dry powder and control against different developmental stages of C. cephalonica. Methanol and ethyl acetate extracts showed an almost equitoxic lethal effect on all three stages of the life cycle of C. cephalonica. The present work suggests that the T. diversifolia flower possesses insecticidal properties against C. cephalonica eggs, larvae and adults. Thus, it can be recommended for use by the farmers as a potential pesticidal plant.