Toxic effect of bitter apple, Citrullus colocynthis fruit extract based formulation on plant feeding red spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch

Red spider mite, Tetranychus urticae is a very important vegetable pest that causes huge yield losses resulting in economic losses in vegetables. Environmental concerns associated with the use of insecticides have led awareness on eco-friendly and cost effective control methods such as botanicals pesticides. Among the pesticidal plants, Citrullus colocynthis belonging to cucurbitaceae family is considered as a treasure of pesticidal compounds. Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to investigate the miticidal properties of Citrullus colocynthis, a pesticidal treasure plant. A 20% EC formulation was developed from the ethyl acetate crude extract of C. colocynthis fruits. The developed formulation, CEF III (20%) showed highest mortality of red spider mite at 700 ppm. LC50 and LC95 of this formulation are 573.06 ppm and 2717.27 ppm respectively. During cold and heat stability tests, no separation was observed. In pot culture studies, more per cent reduction in mite population over check (73.21%) was observed in LC80 double dose (1840 ppm) of CEF III 20%. No phytotoxic symptoms were observed with the test doses.