Bioefficacy of Farnesol, A Common Sesquiterpene, On the Survival, Growth, Development, and Morphogenesis of Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

Egyptian cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval) is a dangerous pest of many field crops and vegetables in the world. The present study was conducted to evaluate the toxicity of Farnesol and its effects on the growth, development, and morphogenesis of this insect. The newly moulted larvae of 5th (penultimate) or 6th (last) instar larvae were fed on castor bean leaves previously treated with 7 concentrations of Farnesol (400, 200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5 & 6.25 ppm) for 24 hr. The most important results could be summarized as follows. After treatment of 5th or 6th instar larvae with Farnesol, various mortalities were recorded among larvae, pupae, and adults. Depending onLC50values, Farnesol exhibited stronger insecticidal activity after treatment of 6th instar larvae(LC50= 33.67 ppm) than after treatment of 5th instar larvae(LC50= 36.56 ppm). Farnesol caused a serious reduction of larval weight gain and deleterious regression of the growth rate. The larval and pupal durations had been remarkably prolonged, in a dose-dependent course. Disruption of the developmental program was recorded as a failure of ecdysis after treatment of 5th instar larvae and production of larval-pupal intermediates, regardless the treated larval instar. Farnesol exerted considerable suppressing action on the pupation. At higher concentrations, Farnesol interfered with the adult emergence, since eclosion was completely prevented at the highest concentration and partially blocked at other concentrations. Irrespective of the treated larval instar, some deformed pupae were developed only at higher two concentrations of Farnesol.