Insecticidal Activity of Acacia Bark Extract Against Isoptera

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Ninety percent of insects are in land including those that are found in our house. One of the common type of insects lurking around our homes is the termite. Termites are a group of eusocial insects that digest food and their food are pieces of wood, paper and other materials containing cellulose. Unfortunately, all of our homes, regardless of the construction type, can provide cellulose food for termite infestation making wooden foundations weak. For many years, man has always been making innovative ways in striving against insects, which led to production of various chemical insecticides which are very hazardous to everyone. Due to this, organic insecticides became widely known and one of them was made of acacia bark extract. According to Schaller (2008), acacia bark extract yields positive results in insecticidal activity. Acacia bark extract's two major components that kill termites are saponin and tannin. Due to these pressing reasons, the researchers were motivated to produce an organic insecticide out of acacia bark extract.

METHODS

The collected acacia barks were dried for 3 days. After that, it was pulverized using mortar and pestle. Ethanolic extraction was done by soaking the pulverized acacia barks on ethanol for 24 hours. After soaking the acacia barks, it was filtered using ordinary filter paper. Then, the extracted liquid was put on the spraying bottle. Twenty termites were placed on each jar cover. The produced alternative insecticide was sprayed three times to each of the labeled jar cover containing equal number of termites.

RESULTS

The following are the findings obtained from the study. In terms of execution time, the result showed that higher concentration of acacia bark and lower concentration of ethanol can kill termites faster. In terms of mortality rate, the results showed that any concentration of acacia bark and ethanol has the capacity to kill termites.

DISCUSSIONS

1. Treatment 3 (T3) having concentrations of 100g of Acacia Bark extract and 200g of Ethanol is highly accepted in terms of execution time.

2. Treatment 3 (T3) having concentrations of 100g of Acacia Bark extract and 200g of Ethanol is highly accepted in terms of mortality rate.