Impact of nanosilver-profenofos on cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) larvae

Abstract

Abstract Background The cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.), is one of the most dangerous pests in Egypt and Africa, causing significant economic loss of cotton crop yield. The frequent use of insecticides to control this insect has led to the development of a generation’s resistance to them. The need of a new, safe control method and effective insecticides has become necessary after the recent increases in environmental pollution and insect resistance. This study is devoted to developing a novel synthetic scheme to produce a pesticide nanocomposite of very high efficiency compared to the originals. The nature of its chemical binding has been investigated via Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. Results In this work, the method is based on using silver nanoparticles (AgNPS) as a pesticide carrier by loading the organophosphorus pesticide profenofos on to their surface. The profenofos, AgNPS alone and nanocomposite profenofos (AgNPS@P) have been tested against second- and fourth-instar larvae of laboratory and field cotton leafworm. Our findings indicate that the AgNPS@P is more effective on cotton leafworm larvae than each of profenofos and nanosilver alone. The activity of AgNPS@P (LC50 = 0.94 and 5.15 ppm) was increased to 85 and 69 times more than that of profenofos (LC50 = 79.52 and 356.97 ppm) against second- and fourth-instar larvae of field cotton leafworm. Conclusions This method may be successful for reducing environmental pollution and the resistance of this pest to many pesticides