A Semi-field Test with Natural and Analogous Acetogenins as Bioinsecticide

This work set out to find the ideal concentration and screening new natural insecticides against second instar larvae of S. frugiperda, under glasshouse conditions on Zea mays L. Spodoptera frugiperda is a pest that affects corn crops among others and has a great capacity to develop resistance to traditional insecticides, which represents enough reasons for the search, of new alternatives for their control. Natural products were evaluated, annonaceous acetogenins and some acetylated and methoxy methylated ACG derivatives and the commercial product Lambda-cyhalotrin (LC). Percent mortalities of S. frugiperda larvae in glasshouse settings were recorded after 24, 48, and 72 hours of treatment administration. The findings demonstrated that the tested acetogenins significantly (P < 0.05) differed from the untreated control in terms of insect mortality. After 72 h of treatment application the highest percent mortalities were obtained with the mixture of two natural products, rolliniastatin-2 (5) (100 g/mL) + squamocin (6) (100 g/mL) + LC (50 g/mL) that proved the most effective and gave (100%), while rolliniastatin-2 (5) at 100 g/mL alone, gave lowest percent mortality (65%), followed by squamocin (6) at 100 g/mL (55%) and LC at 50 g/mL (30%). The acetylated and methoxy methylated ACGs derivatives caused very low mortality (25 - 35%). It is recommended the mixture of components for integrated pest management. The results allow us to infer that the addition of natural ACGs synergizes the insecticidal activity of the commercial product. Finding for insect control, a new ecological alternative.