Insecticidal and Antimicrobial Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Lantana camara and GC-MS Analysis

Abstract

Weeds are still a major problem all over the world. People are not able to remove all the weeds from the earth. It is a demand of time that we must move towards a positive aspect of weeds. This work follows the same approach. The Lantana camara leaves are used to develop a herbal insecticide product. The L. camara leaves possess insecticidal, fungicidal, and antibacterial properties. During the process of development of the product, ethanolic extract of leaves was analyzed for its antimicrobial analysis, secondary metabolite analysis and activity against insects. Antimicrobial activity was tested against three pathogenic bacterial strains, i.e., Micrococcus luteus, Citrobacter freundii, Staphylococcus aureus and two fungal strains, i.e., Aspergillus niger and Paecilomyces sinensis, P. sinesisis, which is an Entomopathogenic fungus, infect and kill harmful insects. In some cases, it is also found as Endophytic fungi. The maximum zone of inhibition was found in C. freundii and A. niger when tested with 10% concentration of ethanolic extract of L. camara. GC-MS was used to analyze secondary metabolites, and the results show 27 compounds. The research reveals that diethyl phthalate has the maximum area percent in this ethanolic extract, which is mainly used in insecticides. The plant Calotrope gigantea was tested for its anti-insecticidal properties against the insect Oleander aphid, and on the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis against the insect Aphis fabae.