INSECTICIDAL AND GENOTOXIC POTENTIAL OF ACORUS CALAMUS RHIZOME EXTRACT AGAINST DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

摘要

Objectives: Insect pest problems in agriculture have a considerable shift during first decade of 21st century due to global climate changes. Varioussynthetic insecticides were used from last 50 years to overcome the pest problem, but major concerns in using these pesticides were: Public healthand pesticide resistance in pests. To abolish the catastrophic effect of synthetic insecticides, urgent need to develop new drugs for pest control. In thisstudy we evaluate the insecticidal and genotoxic activity of ethanolic extract of Acorus calamus rhizome against Drosophila melanogaster.Methods: Different concentration of ethanolic extracts of A. calamus, fed to different developmental stages of D. melanogaster to determine insecticidalactivity and genotoxicity; genotoxicity was determined by the comet assay in male flies.Results: Lethal concentration 50 (LC50) values of ethanolic extract against larvae, adult males and females of D. melanogaster were 109.54, 52.51 and41.11 mg/L respectively. Genotoxicity of adult’s flies were determined at 30 and 55 mg/L ethanolic extract of A. calamus, The mean comet tail lengthwas 4.24±0.653 μm and 6.13±0.721 μm and the respective DNA damage was 5.1% and 7.3% with reference to controls.Conclusion: The present finding suggests that ethanolic extract of A. calamus rhizome showed higher insecticidal potential in adults than larvaeof D. melanogaster. Results from genotoxicity studies further support the insecticidal activity against adult stages of D. melanogaster. The studyreflects ethanolic extract of A. calamus could be used as an alternative pest control negotiator for minimizing the noxious effects of pesticides in theenvironment.