Investigation of the termiticidal and protein composition of Calotropis gigantea (L.) W.T. Aiton) against Cryptotermes tropicalis Gay & Watson (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae)

There is an increasing awareness of the use of natural products for termite and pest control because of their environmental safety. There are several indigenous plant materials that have been reported as potential alternatives to synthetic termiticides. In our study, we examined the anti-termite potential of chloroform, methanol, methanol + aqueous (1:1), and aqueous extracts of Calotropis gigantean against Cryptotermes tropicalis. The anti-termitic activity was performed by no-choice bioassay methods at 31.2, 62.5, 125, 250, and 500 mg/mL. The anti-termite potential of each extract revealed that the chloroform extract of C. gigantea exhibited the highest anti-termitic activity (94.0%) at 500 mg/mL against C. tropicalis, over a period of 72 hrs. followed by methanol (86.0%), methanol + aqueous (1:1), (59.0%), and aqueous (24.0%) extracts. It was found that the LC50 and LC90 values of chloroform extract from C. gigantea were 7.94 (6.61–9.55) and 23.82 (20.15–26.87), followed by methanol (15.31–13.60–17.24) and 45.93 (42.94–48.02), methanol + aqueous (1:1), 27.49 (21.82–36.51), and 61.63 (47.13–82.19), and aqueous less than 50%, respectively. The SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the treated termite had a lower protein concentration. The termite groups that were aqueously treated and the control group showed negligible or no changes in protein expression. The preliminary phytochemical analysis of the plant also showed that the extracts contained alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, glycosides, and steroids. C. giganteam leaves could be enhanced with an environmentally friendly termiticide.