Laboratory Evaluation of Pesticidal Activities of Hyptis suaveolens in Pest Management

摘要

The efficacy of use of Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit in the control of three storage pests was evaluated in a laboratory experiment. The experiment was aimed at determining the potency of Hyptis suaveolens as a promising botanical in the control of stored product pests. Thus, fresh, mature and healthy fumigant leaves of Hyptis suaveolens were collected in Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria, chopped into very small sizes and weighed to be 100 g. These leaves were soaked consecutively in 1000 mL each of n-hexane, di-ethyl ether and methanol where the essential oil of the plant was then extracted sequentially through solvent extraction methods. Each level of solvent extraction was maintained for 3 days after which the filtrate was exposed to natural air for 24 h. The m ethanolic extract was further prepared to obtain concentrations of 100, 75, 50, 25, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1% which were tested for pesticidal activity against cultures of selected stored product pest species in the laboratory under ambient temperature. The laboratory experiment revealed the high insecticidal capability of H. suaveolens in the control of the insect pests through contact treatment and 100% mortality of Sitophilus oryzae , Sitophilus zeamais and Callosobruchus maculatus in >15 sec of m ethanolic extract treatment application.