Abstract
Ladybird (Family Coccinellidae) has been regarded as a serious pest causing heavy damage to various agricultural crops. The use of effective and natural pesticide will greatly contribute in the control and management of these pests. This study examined the potential of Antidesma bunius (Bignay) fruit extract as an organic pesticide against the Epilachna spp., of the family Coccinellidae. A laboratory-scale experiment was done to compare the mortality time lapse (MTL) of the lady bird beetles exposed to three concentrations of crude A. bunius fruit extracts (50%, 75% and 100%). A commercial pesticide was used as positive control and water as negative control. Each treatment was sprayed on the testing plates and on the cling wrap cover, and mortality was monitored every 15 minutes for 5 hours. Three trials were conducted with three replicates each. One-way ANOVA showed that there is a significant difference in the exhibited MTLs between and within treatments ( 0.05 and 0.01). The recorded MTL of beetles exposed to 100% A. bunius extract was relatively close to those exposed to the commercial pesticide compared to those treated with 50% and 75% A. bunius fruit extracts. The commercial pesticide registered an average MTL of 10 min while majority of those treated with pure fruit extract registered a 15 min MTL. Phytochemical analysis of the fruit extract showed the presence of flavonoids and phenols that might contribute to its pesticide property. Results of this study indicate that A. bunius fruit extract can serve as a novel alternative source of organic pesticide and that the pure crude fruit extract was proven effective against the Epilachna spp.