Azadirachtin as a Larvicide Against the Horn Fly, Stable Fly, and House Fly (Diptera: Muscidae)

Abstract

Effects of azadirachtin, a triterpenoid extracted from neem seed, Azadirachta indica A. Juss., were similar to those of insect growth regulators against the immature stages of the born fly, Haematobia irritans (L.), the stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), and the house fly, Musca domestica L. When an ethanolic extract of ground seed was blended into cow manure, LC50 and LC90's for larval horn flies were 0.096 and 0.133 ppm azadirachtin, respectively. An emulsifiable concentrate (EC) had an LC50 for larval horn flies of 0.151 ppm and an LC90 of 0.268 ppm. For larval stable flies, the EC formulation had an LC50 of 7.7 ppm and an LC90 of 18.7 ppm azadirachtin in manure. Against larval house flies, the LC50 and LC90 were 10.5 and 20.2 ppm, respectively. When the EC formulation was administered orally to cattle at a rate of greater than or equal to 0.03 mg azadirachtin per kg of body weight per day or when ground neem seed was given as a daily supplement of greater than or equal to 10 mg seed per kg body weight, horn fly development in the manure was almost completely inhibited. In contrast, ground seed mixed in cattle feed at the rate of 100-400 mg seed per kg of body weight per day caused less than 50% inhibition of stable flies in the manure.

Efficacy of neem extract against the blowfly and housefly

“…The reason for more susceptibility to neem extract on the part of M. domestica as compared to C. megacephala in this study is unknown. However, the larvicidal effect of azadirachtin in our investigation is in line with the results obtained by Miller and Chamberlain (1989), who investigated the horn fly, H. irritans, and stable fly, S. calcitrans and M. domestica. On the other hand, failure to kill the immature stages of C. megacephala when continuously in contact with neem extract has been reported by Kumarasinghe et al (2000), who observed this in larvae exposed to the homogenized fresh leaf extract of A. indica.…”

“…Example of this include: reduction of fecundity and post-embryonic development in the melonfly, Bactocera cucurbitae (Coq. ), oriental fruit fly, Bactocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Singh 2003), and root weevil, Diaprepes abbreviatus (L.) (Weathersbee III and Tang 2002); fecundity and longevity of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Steffens and Schmutterer 1982;Di Ilio et al 1999) and the bug, Clavigralla scutellaris Westwood (Mitchell et al 2004); delay of growth development in the moth, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Ma et al 2000); inhibition of feeding in the mosquitoes, Culex tarsalis Coquillett and Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Su and Mulla 1998a); ovicidal activity in the mosquitoes, C. tarsalis and C. quinquefasciatus (Su and Mulla 1998b); inhibition of oviposition in the mosquitoes, Anopheles stephensi Liston and Anopheles culicifacies Giles (Dhar et al 1996); larvicidal activity in the horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.), stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), and housefly (Miller and Chamberlain 1989); and repellency effect in the sand flies, Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli) (Dhiman and Sharma 1994) and Phlebotomus argentipes Annandale and Brunetti (Sharma and Dhiman 1993), and mosquito, A. culicifacies , which was also reviewed by Mulla and Su (1999). Despite the results just listed, probability of insect to product effect from A. indica is low (Vollinger and Schmutterer 2002).…”

Azadirachta indica

“…Azadirachtin was found to possess larvicidal activity similar to those of insect growth regulators against the immature stages of the horn fl y, Haematobia irritans ; the stable fl y, Stomoxys calcitrans ; and the housefl y, Musca domestica (Miller and Chamberlain 1998 ). An emulsifi able concentrate had an LC 50 for larval horn fl ies of 0.151 ppm and an LC 90 of 0.268 ppm.…”

Phytochemical Pesticides

“…It inhibits feeding and growth of insects throughout a wide variety of insect taxa including Lepidoptera (Anarson et al 1985 ;Barnby and Klocke 1987 ;Koul et al . 1987 ), Diptera (Miller and Chamberlain 1989 ), Orthoptera (Ascher et al . 1989 ;Champagne et al 1989 ;Mordue et al 1985 ;Rao and Subrahmanyam 1986 ), Hemiptera (Dorn et al .…”