The activity of spiked pepper fruit essential oil against fall armyworm larvae

Abstract

Spiked pepper (Piper aduncum) essential oil has the potency to develop as a botanical insecticide in controlling fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). This study aimed to determine the activity of spiked pepper fruit essential oils against fall armyworm larvae. This study was held from November 2020 to March 2021 at the Insect Bioecology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Andalas University, West Sumatera, Indonesia. The experiment used a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), including preliminary and advanced tests. The preliminary test was conducted using three concentration levels (0%, 0.25%, and 0.5%) and consisted of 4 replications. The advanced test was conducted using 5 concentration levels and control (0%, 0.05%, 0.07%, 0.11%, 0.17% and 0.25%) and consisted of 5 replications. The test ran with the leaf-dipped method, with parameters observed were larval mortality, feeding inhibition activity (antifeedant), and larval development time. The observation data were analyzed using analysis of variance, and if there were any significant differences, it continued with a further test using Least Significant Difference (LSD) at a 5% level. LC50 and LC95 values were analyzed using the POLO PC software. The result showed that spiked pepper fruit essential oil could cause larval mortality, inhibit feeding activity, and inhibit Fall armyworm larval growth. The treatment with a concentration of 0.17% showed the best result, which could lead to 98.67% larvae mortality, inhibit feeding activity by 91.23% and inhibit larvae growth from reaching the sixth instar around 3.26 days compared to the control. The LC50 and LC95 value of spiked pepper fruit essential oil solution was 0.068% and 0.151%, respectively. Overall, spiked pepper essential oil has insecticidal activity against fall armyworm larvae.