Development and using of some nanopesticide formulations against the conical snail, Cochlicella acuta, and the chocolate banded snail, Massylaea vermiculata

Abstract

Abstract Background Nanopesticides are considered promising strategy in pest control. So, this strategy became an important new approach in pesticide formulations production. In this study, three traditional pesticide formulations (chlorfenapyr, imidacloprid and indoxacarb) were developed into nanoformulations. The toxicity of these nanoformulations was evaluated against the adults of the conical snail, Cochlicella acuta (Müller, 1774), and the chocolate banded snail, Massylaea vermiculata (Mohamed and Ali, Anim Biol J 2(4):171–180, 2011). Results The results revealed that the nanosizes of nanoformulation nanoparticles were ranged between 220 and 534 nm. The loading capacities of the selected pesticides on polymer were 65.3 ± 6.4, 62.8 ± 5.3 and 37.1 ± 0.4%for nanochlorfenapyr, nanoimidacloprid and nanoindoxacarb, respectively. The nanochlorfenapyr was the most toxic against both the C. acuta and M. vermiculata followed by nanoindoxacarb and nanoimidacloprid. The LC50,s of the nanoformulations were 6.1, 7.7 and 14.9 ppm for chlorfenapyr, indoxacarb and imidacloprid, respectively. Conclusions These results cleared that the conical snails were more susceptible to all the tested pesticides than the chocolate banded snail, M. vermiculata. The efficacy of nanochlorfenapyr, nanoindoxacarb and nanoimidacloprid on conical snails (6.1, 7.7 and 14.9 ppm, respectively) was about fourfold compared with M. vermiculata (23.1, 31.9 and 60.6 ppm, respectively).The results also revealed that the potency of nanoformulation used was not only by direct killing of tested snails but also by repellent effect.