Comparative biocidal effect of BioArt and Crataeva religiosa extracts against the groundnut seed pest Caryedon serratus (OL.) in Senegal

With a view to devising a strategy for protecting groundnut seeds against Caryedon serratus, we tested the biological impact of a product called BioArt made from the leaves of certain plants indigenous to Senegal (Crataeva religiosa, Calotropis procera and Azadirachta indica) and aqueous extracts of Crataeva religiosa on the external forms of C. serratus. The BioArt product caused the greatest mortality in adults. It induced maximum elimination (100%) of adults with the highest dose C1. Extracts of C. religiosa were less effective than BioArt on adults. They induced a maximum effect of 53.33% mortality with the highest dose C1. Females treated with BioArt laid fewer eggs than those treated with aqueous extracts of C. religiosa. With regard to the sex ratio of survivors, a comparative study of the different solutions showed that the BioArt product favoured females, while the C. religiosa extracts were equally distributed between males and females. The ovicidal activity showed almost equal embryonic and larval mortality and a slight difference in pupal mortality (32.41% with BioArt and 47.18% with C. religiosa). Monitoring of surviving eggs showed a lengthening or shortening of the various development times, with larval development, total development and life span being shorter with the BioArt product. The sex ratio was in favour of females for both products.