BACKGROUND: Botanical pesticides increasingly play important roles in the control of agricultural pests. In this study, the aphidicidal effect of moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) extract against mustard aphid was confirmed, the main active compounds identified, and aphidicidal mechanism of the most active compound established. RESULTS: When the treatment concentration was 10.0 g L-1 , the corrected mortality of bamboo leaf extract (BE) was 53.22 ± 5.20% and the petroleum ether component of bamboo leaf extract (PE) reached 82.76 ± 4.50%, which also showed a synergistic effect with imidacloprid. Four flavonoids were identified as the main active components in the BE via activity tracking and phytochemical method. Isoorientin had an LC50 of 313.22 mg L-1 , and affected the activities of acetylcholinesterase and peroxidase significantly, revealing the possible aphidicidal mechanism. When the treatment of 11.1% PE·imidacloprid was 200 mL, the control effect was 99.07%, which was better than that observed with 10% of imidacloprid or 0.5% of matrine. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide a better understanding of the aphidicidal activity and aphidicidal mechanism of moso bamboo leaf extract and the most active compound, isoorientin. This will help in developing a more effective botanical aphicide.
BACKGROUND: Botanical pesticides increasingly play important roles in the control of agricultural pests. In this study, the aphidicidal effect of moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) extract against mustard aphid was confirmed, the main active compounds identified, and aphidicidal mechanism of the most active compound established. RESULTS: When the treatment concentration was 10.0 g L-1 , the corrected mortality of bamboo leaf extract (BE) was 53.22 ± 5.20% and the petroleum ether component of bamboo leaf extract (PE) reached 82.76 ± 4.50%, which also showed a synergistic effect with imidacloprid. Four flavonoids were identified as the main active components in the BE via activity tracking and phytochemical method. Isoorientin had an LC50 of 313.22 mg L-1 , and affected the activities of acetylcholinesterase and peroxidase significantly, revealing the possible aphidicidal mechanism. When the treatment of 11.1% PE·imidacloprid was 200 mL, the control effect was 99.07%, which was better than that observed with 10% of imidacloprid or 0.5% of matrine. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide a better understanding of the aphidicidal activity and aphidicidal mechanism of moso bamboo leaf extract and the most active compound, isoorientin. This will help in developing a more effective botanical aphicide.