Sustainable Solvents as Attractors in Snails

Abstract

Global crop losses due to pests have been estimated at more than 50 % of attainable crop output. Of this figure, insects cause 15 % of the crop destruction with an additional 10 % resulting from post-harvest pest infestations. Pesticides are used to avoid crop losses, but most of them are formulated with aromatic solvents. Aromatics, such as naphthalene or anthracene, are used as insect repellents. The repellency of aromatics could make insects move from one crop to another that is free of repellents, possibly resulting in a reduced pest control. For this is reason, it is very important to improve the current chemical control with adjuvants that act as attractants to the pests but also kill them. By their nature, sustainable solvents such as fatty acid methyl esters or fatty alcohols could act as attractors without having any volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In addition, the aromatic solvents in a formulation can evaporate in days or even hours, leaving insoluble the active and out of reach of the pest. Attack by mollusks causes large losses in agriculture and fish farming even with the use of pesticides. In this work, the attractant or repellent effect of some aromatic and sustainable solvents is tested using snails as an example related to pest control.