Molluscicidal and antifeedant effects of some botanical oils against the land snail Monacha obstructa snail (Gastrda: Hygrmiidae)

Hussein, Ibrahim H.; Abd El Halim, Salwa M.; Rizk, Marguerite A.; Fkreen, Amal A.

doi:10.21608/fjard.2024.288132.1044

Molluscicidal and antifeedant effects of some botanical oils against the land snail Monacha obstructa snail (Gastrda: Hygrmiidae)

Document Type : Research articles.

Authors

¹ Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum 63514, Egypt

² Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt

10.21608/fjard.2024.288132.1044

Abstract

The molluscicidal and antifeedant activities of six botanical oils namely sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), clove (Eugenia aromaticum), peppermint Mentha piperita, garlic (Allium sativum), chamomile (Artemisia herba-alba) and geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) were tested against the adult stage of Monacha obstructa (Gastropoda: Hygromiidae) under laboratory conditions. The results indicated that using contact and spraying methods, sweet basil oil was the most toxic based on IC50 values. Chamomile and clove oils were the least efficient using the same methods. Also, sweet basil oil caused 82.4% inhibition in feeding activity to the land snail M. obstructa at 4 mg/ml. This inhibition was 74.3% by garlic oil and 57.1 % by chamomile oil at the same concentration. Therefore, garlic oil at the IC₅₀ level and sweet basil at the IC₉₀level appeared the more potent as feeding deterrents while chamomile oil was the lower effective of both levels. Conversely, botanical oils of clove, geranium and peppermint exerted negative antifeeding effects. Moreover, twenty essential oils were identified by GC/MS analysis in sweet basil. These oils were divided into twelve monoterpene hydrocarbons (70.83%) and eight sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (19.17%). It is evident that linalool (35.90%) was the most abundant compound followed by eucalyptol (12.73%) and α-farnesene (8.68%). While, among the identified compounds were eugenol (7.64%), γ-muurolene (5.42%), α-humulene (2.39%) and β-pinene (1.03%). It is worth noting that sweet basil exhibited strong molluscicidal and antifeedant activities against the adults of M. obstructa and may be that the detected oils are responsible for causing this activity. The current study showed safe alternatives from plant origin such as sweet basil oil which may be used as a botanical molluscicide to control land snails or as antifeedant to protect the crops from them.

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