Bioactivity of aqueous extracts of plants to the fruit fly larvae, Ceratitis capitata (Wied.)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of aqueous plant extracts to neonate larvae of Ceratitis capitata. Silk cotton (Calotropis procera), citronella grass (Cymbopogon nardus), joazeiro (Ziziphus joazeiro),sugar apple (Annona squamosa), jatropha (Jatropha curcas), noni (Morinda citrifolia) and tingui(Magonia pubescens) were collected, dried, and milled in a knife mill in order to obtain a powder. These powders were added in distilled water to prepare aqueous extracts (10%, w/v). The suspension containing the hydrosoluble compounds was filtered to get the extracts, which were added to the artificial diet of fruit fly larvae. Only distilled water was added in the control diet. Assays were carried out in DIC, with four treatments (aqueous extracts) and one control. All treatments consisted of 10 repetitions, each containing 10 newly hatched larvae ofC. capitata. Larval mortality and control efficiency (E%) of aqueous extracts to the larvae were evaluated. Thejoazeiro, tingui and jatropha extracts are the most toxic and effective in controlling larvae of C. capitata,