Antitermite Activities ofC. deciduaExtracts and Pure Compounds against Indian White TermiteOdontotermes obesus(Isoptera: Odontotermitidae)

Abstract

In the present investigation, we have tested antitermite responses ofCapparis deciduastem, root, flower, and fruit extracts and pure compounds toOdontotermes obesusin various bioassays. Crude stem extract has shown very high susceptibility and very low LD50values, that is, 14.171 μg/mg in worker termites. From stem extract, three pure compounds were isolated in pure form namely, heneicosylhexadecanoate (CDS2), triacontanol (CDS3), and 2-carboxy-1, 1-dimethylpyrrolidine (CDS8) which have shown very low LD50value in a range of 5.537–10.083 μg/mg. Similarly, one novel compound 6-(1-hydroxy-non-3-enyl)-tetrahydropyran-2-one (CDF1) was isolated from flower extract that has shown an LD508.08 μg/gm. Repellent action of compounds was tested in a Y-shaped glass olfactometer in which CDF1 compounds have significantly repelled termites to the opposite arm. Besides this,C. deciduaextracts have shown significant reduction (P<0.05and 0.01) in termite infestation in garden saplings when it was coated on cotton tags and employed over tree trunks. Further,C. deciduasstem extract was used for wood seasoning, which gave very good results as test wood sticks have shown significantly (P<0.05and 0.01) very low termite infestation.