SOPH 352: PHYTOPHARMACEUTICALS

AND POISONS
PESTS AND PEST CONTROL
NAME: DR. BENJAMIN KINGSLEY HARLEY
D E PA RT M E N T: P H A R M A C O G N O S Y A N D H E R B A L M E D I C I N E
SCHOOL: PHARMACY
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Define pests and pest management
Identify the major pests affecting agricultural
crops
Classify the various types of pesticides
Understand the socio-economic and health
impact of pesticides
Appreciate the various methods of pest control
and management
DEFINITIONS
PESTS - Any species, strain or biotype of plant, animal or
pathogenic agent injurious to plants or plant products.

PESTICIDES - Chemical substances use to kill or retard

the growth of pests that damage or interfere with the
growth of crops, shrubs, trees, timber and other
vegetation desired by humans.
- Any substance or mixture of substances of chemical
or biological ingredients intended for repelling, destroying
or controlling any pest or regulating plant growth.
 CLASSIFICATIONS OF PESTICIDES
General Classifications
Based on target pest
Fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, acaricides
molluscicides, nematocides, rodenticides.
Based on chemical nature
Organophosphates, organochlorides
Carbamates, pyrethrin and pyrethroids
Based on mode of action
Non systemic pesticides (contact)
Systemic pesticides
CLASSIFICATIONS OF PESTICIDES (2)
Council of Scientific Affairs, AMA
Synthetic pesticides
Organophosphates
Organochlorides
Carbamates
Pyrethrin
Biopesticides
Microbial biopesticides
Plant incorporated protectants
Botanical biopesticides
Pheromones
Harmful effects of chemical
pesticides on human health
Neurological, Psychological and Behavioural
Dysfunctions.
Hormonal Imbalances
Immune System Dysfunctions.
Reproductive System Defects.
Infertility.
Genotoxicity.
Cancer
Blood Disorders.
Liver and Kidney Disorders.
Harmful effects of chemical pesticides on ENVIRONMENT
Environmental Pollution.
Reduction of Biodiversity and nitrogen fixation.
Destruction of marine life.
Changes in the ecosystem balances.
Rapid development of resistance in pests.
Suppression of parasitoids and predators.
Adverse effects on non target organisms.
Botanical pesticides
Sub-group of biopesticides in agricultural pest
management.
Naturally occurring secondary metabolites
(phytochemicals) extracted from plant sources which
can control and kill the pests thus helping in the
Lack of persistence and bioaccumulation in the
environment
Selectivity towards beneficial insects
Low toxicity to humans
ACARICIDES
Mites and ticks, arachnids of the order Acarina
(Acari).
Specific mites infest crude drugs and food
Ticks are the largest members of the order and
economically the most important.
They are all blood-sucking parasites responsible for
microbial infections, e.g the spirochaete infection
causes Lyme disease, and protozoal diseases in
animals.
ACARICIDES (2)
Control of mites by plant products centered on essential oils
Essential oils of some members of Capparidaceae shown to
be effective antitick agents
E.g. essential oil of Gynandropsis gynandron.
Proposed as an antitick pasture plant as it disrupts the free-
living stages of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus.
Twenty-eight compounds were identified in the essential oil
Carvacrol, phytol and linalool being the major constituents,
although
Methyl isothiocyanate was also identified in the oil
G. gynandron essential oil is also used as a repellant for head-
lice.
 Insecticides: PYRETHRUM FLOWER
Dried flower-heads of Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium (Trev.)
Vis. [Tanacetum cinerariifolium (Trev.) Sch. Bip., Pyrethrum
cinerariifolium Trev.] (Compositae)
Esters different cell types (oil glands, resin ducts and mesophyll
cells).
 Pyrethrin I, jasmolin I and cinerin I are esters of chrysanthemic
acid (chrysanthemum monocarboxylic acid)
Pyrethrin II, jasmolin II and cinerin II are esters of pyrethric
acid (monomethyl ester of chrysanthemum dicarboxylic acid).
Alcohol component of pyrethrins is the keto-alcohol pyrethrolone
and of the
Alcohol component of cinerins is the keto-alcohol cinerolone.
 Insecticides: PYRETHRUM FLOWER (2)
Pyrethrum Extract BP (Vet.) contains 24.5–25.5% of
pyrethrins;
Prepared extemporaneously from the flower-heads
Used for the preparation of the BP (Vet.) dusting
powder and spray.
Dusting powder (pyrethrum extract, diatomite, talc),
pyrethrin content of 0.36–0.44%
Popularity of pyrethrum due to
 Rapid knock-down action (largely due to pyrethrin II)
Lethality to insects (pyrethrin I)

Insecticides: PYRETHRUM FLOWER (3)
Uses
Insect flowers are a contact
poison for insects.
Largely used in the form of
powder
Sprays in which the active
principles are dissolved in
kerosene or other organic solvent
are more efficient.
 Insecticides: Derris and lonchocarpus
Roots of Derris and Lonchocarpus sp
(Leguminosae)
Insecticidal properties due to
rotenone.
Colourless crystalline substance insoluble
in water
soluble in organic solvents.
Other constituents with insecticidal
properties (deguelin)
Drug depends both on rotenone content
and chloroform extractive it
Rotenone is an isoflavone derivative
Toxicity to mammals limits its
 Insecticides: nicotinoids
Obtained from plants in the genus Nicotiana
(Solanaceae)
N. tabacum, N. rustica.
Nicotine is the characteristic alkaloid of the genus
N. glutinosa produce nornicotine by demethylation of
nicotine in leaves
N. glauca contain, in addition to the nicotine
alkaloids, the homologous anabasine
Nornicotine and anabasine are also insecticidal
 Insecticides: Cevadilla seed
Consists of the seeds of Schoenocaulon officinale
(Liliaceae)
Dark brown to black, sharply pointed and about 6
mm long.
Contain about 2–4% of mixed alkaloids known
‘veratrine’.
Chief alkaloids, cevadine and veratridine

Powdered seeds and preparations of ‘veratrine’

 Insecticides: ryania
Roots and stems of Ryania speciosa
(Flacourtiaceae)
Contain 0.16%–0.2% of alkaloids having
insecticidal properties.
Principal alkaloid: Ryanodine
A complex ester involving 1-pyrrole-
carboxylic acid.
Used in the control of various
lepidopterous larvae which attack fruits
 Insecticides: EUCALYPTUS OIL
Eucalyptus oil is a complex mixture of various phytochemicals such
as monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, aromatic phenols, oxides, ethers,
alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones.
Composition and proportion of the chemical constituents vary with
the species.
Pesticidal activity of eucalyptus oil due to 1, 8 – cineole
(eucalyptol), citronellal, citronellol, citronellyl acetate, p – cymene,
eucamalol, limonene, linalool, and α – pinene
1, 8 – cineole is the most important characteristic compound for
 Insecticides: EUCALYPTUS OIL (2)
Leaf extracts of Eucalyptus also has insecticidal activity against
various pests.
Essential oil of Eucalyptus consisting of eucalyptol, α – pinene, and
α – cymene were effective repellent against target pests.
Leaf showed insecticidal activity against Prostephanus trunatus
 Insecticides: NEEM
Phytoconstituents from Azadirachta indica (Meliaceae)
Potent active ingredients are azadirachtin, meliantriol, salannin,
desacetyl salannin, nimbin, desacetyl nimbin and nimbidin.
Azadirachtin is present in higher concentration (0.2 – 0.6%) in the
seeds of the neem compared to other parts of the neem tree
Azadirachtin A is the most active biological ingredient which shows
insecticidal activity
Wide spectrum of actions on insects such as repellents, antifeedant,
insect growth regulatory, and anti – ovipositional properties
 RODENTICIDES: Red squill
Red squill and white squill are both varieties of
Urginea maritima (Liliaceae).
Red squill distinguished in either the whole or
powdered state by the reddish-brown outer scales
and the white to deep purple inner
Contains the glucosides scilliroside and
scillirubroside.
Rodents ingest and are not able to regurgitate the
squill bulb
Death follows convulsions and respiratory failure.
RODENTICIDES: Strychnine
Isolated from Strychnos species (Loganiaceae)
Extermination of moles
Toxicity to other animals and its painful poisonous
action do not make it a poison of choice.
 MOLLUSCICIDES
Pharmaceutical interest in molluscicides concerned
primarily with control of schistosomiasis (bilharzia)
Certain freshwater snails act as intermediate hosts for
blood flukes, Schistosoma haemotobium, S. mansoni and S.
japonicum.
Disease causes intestinal and bladder damage
Prevalent in S. America, Africa and the Far East
Wide range of phytochemicals exhibit molluscicidal activity.
Prominent families include Araliaceae, Compositae and
Liliaceae.
 MOLLUSCICIDES (2)
Criteria for selection of plant as molluscides on
large scale
Possess molluscicidal activity in laboratory tests
Plant material must be available in sufficient quantity
Easy propagation in the region where required
Active constituents should be water-soluble and easily
extractable from the plant source
Molluscicidal activity should be high and the toxicity
towards other organisms, including humans, low.
 MOLLUSCICIDES (3)
Berries of the Ethiopian plant Phytolacca dodecandra
(Phytolaccaceae) effective in clearing stretches of
waterways of snails
Active components are triterpenoid saponins
composed of oleanolic acid with a branched sugar
side-chain at C-3
Pods of Swartzia madagascariensis (Leguminosae)
contain similar saponins
 Has local medicinal, insecticidal and piscicidal uses.
The leaves of the S. America species S. simplex have a
similar

 MOLLUSCICIDES (4)
Spirostanol saponins found in Balanites aegyptica
(Zygophyllaceae) are potent molluscicides.
Also contains balanitin-1, -2 and -3;
Balanitin-1possesses a yamogenin aglycone with a
branched glucose and rhamnose side-chain.
Saponins from the pericarps of Guaiacum officinale
(Zygophyllaceae)
Sapindus trifoliatus (Sapindaceae) active against the
freshwater snail Lymnaea luteola vector of animal
schistosomiasis
 MOLLUSCICIDES (5)
Tannins constitute the active principles of some
Leguminosae eg Acacia spp.
Napthoquinones of the juglone and plumbagin type
constitute those of the Malawi Ebenaceous species
Diospyros usambarensis.
Disadvantage: naphthoquinones are at their highest
concentration in the root-bark.
Other phytochemicals molluscicidal activity are
Isobutylamides of the Asteraceae, Rutaceae and
Piperaceae
Steroidal glycoalkaloids (Solanum mammosum)
Anthraquinones (Morinda lucida, Rubiaceae)
 Integrated pest management (IPM)
An approach that combines a number of strategies to achieve
sustainable pest management.
Objective to sustainably reduce pests, attain high and profitable
yield while keeping the environment safe.
Botanical pesticides are a key component of IPM
Together with other crop protection strategies that include host
resistance or tolerance, good agricultural practices, use of natural
enemies such as predators and parasitoids, microbial pesticides and
limited use of safe synthetic pesticides .
Approach coupled with early pest monitoring and detection using
smart technology such as internet of things (IoT) and geographic
information systems would achieve timely, effective and sustainable
Challenges in adoption of botanical pesticides
Availability of arable land for production of botanical pesticides
would be a major limiting factor.
Lack of investment
Storage and processing facilities
Warehouses
Preservation technology and machinery
Competition from the synthetic pesticides that are easy to
manufacture, easy to formulate, have long shelf life, ease of
application and have established production facilities
Challenges in adoption of botanical pesticides (1)
Formulation challenges
One plant could have several active compounds that differ in chemical
properties.
Challenges in their regulatory procedures into agricultural
use.
Registration process is expensive
Little awareness among the small holder farmers about the
usefulness of botanical pesticides in managing crop pests
Application of botanical pesticides dictated by weather conditions
since they are easily degraded especially if applied in their crude
form.
Biodegradability of botanical pesticides also shortens their shelf life.
Challenges in adoption of botanical pesticides (2)
Non specificity
Despite the safety associated with botanical pesticides, some
plants with antimicrobial activity are also associated with toxicity
towards a group of non-targets.
Rotenone is toxic to mammals, fish and insects.
Tephrosia spp effective potential insecticide against several pests
is also toxic to farmed clariid (Clarias gariepinus).
Extraction of botanical pesticides requires use of organic
solvents whose disposal poses problems of polluting the
environment.
Most agrochemical companies are unwilling to invest in
production of botanical pesticides.