International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 8 (2013) pp. 389-395
Biological activity of essential oils leaves from one Sahara plant: Peganum harmala L. (Zygophyllaceae) on the desert locust
Kemassi Abdellah*, Boual Zakaria, Bouziane Nawal, Ould El Hadj-Khelil Aminata and Ould El Hadj Mohamed Didi
Ecosystem Protection in Arid and Semi Arid Laboratory Kasdi Merbah University, Ouargla PB 511 Ouargla 30000, Algeria *Corresponding author e-mail: akemassi@yahoo.fr
A B S T R A C T
The biological activity of crude leaf essential oil of Peganum harmala L. collected from Oued M'Zab in Ghardaïa region (Algerian Septentrional Sahara), on the larvae L5 and adult individuals of desert locust, showed a toxic effect in the desert locust. After treatment, the fifth stage larvae and imagos of S. gregaria, by crude extracts of P. harmala leaf essential oils, problems of imbalances and convulsive movements are observed. These are the same symptoms noted, in insects treated with insecticides. The lethal time 50 (LT50) measured immediately after treatment, are of the order of 06 mn 12 ' of L5 larvae and for 19 mn 21' for imagos of this insect. The fifth stage larvae of the desert locust seem more sensitive to the action of essential oils as imagos.
Keywords
S. gregaria, toxicity; P. harmala; Sahara; lethal time; essential oils.