The First Study for The Acaricidal Activity of Alcoholic Extracts of Adiantum capillus-veneris and Funaria hygrometric against Argas persicus

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the acaricidal activity of ethanolic and methanolic extracts of two Cryptogams plants, namely Adiantum capillus-veneris (fern plant) and Funaria hygrometrica (moss plant) at different concentrations (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) on semi-fed females of Argas persicus (away from their hosts) collected from the field. The percentages of mobile, immobile, and dead females were recorded two-day intervals for 30 days after treatment with all extracts assayed at different concentrations, using the dipping method. The results indicated that all extracts at different concentrations caused a significant decrease in the percentages of mobile ticks and a significant increase in the percentages of dead ones when compared with the control. The acaricidal efficacy of A. capillus-veneris and F. hygrometrica extracts may be attributed to their contents of many active phytochemical constituents that having high potential against ticks. At the highest concentration (4%), the percentage of tick mortality for methanolic extract was more efficient than ethanolic one for both plants recording 100% efficiency for A. capillus-veneris and 50% for F. hygrometrica. So, we recommended using A. capillus-veneris methanolic extract at 4% as a herbal pesticide against A. persicus which have all characters of ideal pesticides; effective (100% acaricidal activity), easily available, cheap, biodegradable (eco-friendly), and do not cause mammalian toxicity.