The First Study for The Acaricidal Activity of Alcoholic Extracts of Adiantum capillus-veneris and Funaria hygrometric against Argas persicus

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

2 Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the acaricidal activity of ethanolic and methanolic extracts of two Cryptogams plants, namely Adiantum capillus-veneris (fern plant) and Funaria hygrometrica (moss plant) at different concentrations (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) on semi-fed females of Argas persicus (away from their hosts) collected from the field. The percentages of mobile, immobile, and dead females were recorded two-day intervals for 30 days after treatment with all extracts assayed at different concentrations, using the dipping method. The results indicated that all extracts at different concentrations caused a significant decrease in the percentages of mobile ticks and a significant increase in the percentages of dead ones when compared with the control. The acaricidal efficacy of A. capillus-veneris and F. hygrometrica extracts may be attributed to their contents of many active phytochemical constituents that having high potential against ticks. At the highest concentration (4%), the percentage of tick mortality for methanolic extract was more efficient than ethanolic one for both plants recording 100% efficiency for A. capillus-veneris and 50% for F. hygrometrica. So, we recommended using A. capillus-veneris methanolic extract at 4% as a herbal pesticide against A. persicus which have all characters of ideal pesticides; effective (100% acaricidal activity), easily available, cheap, biodegradable (eco-friendly), and do not cause mammalian toxicity.

Keywords

Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences, F. Toxicology & Pest Control
Volume 12, Issue 2
December 2020
Pages 203-217

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