Usage of some botanical oils to control the land snail Monacha sp. (Gastropoda : Helicidae)‎

Abstract EN

The land snail Monacha sp.

(Muller) (Gastropoda : Helicidae) is a serious pest of a wide range of field and vegetable crops.

Nowadays using natural molluscicides for snail control is considered to be the most pragmatic approach.

The aim of this study was to assess the molluscicidal potential of three essential botanical natural oils, clove oil, Syzygium aromaticum (S.

aromaticum); black cumin oil or black seed oil, Nigella sativa L(N.

sativa) and mustard oil, Brassica alba (B.

alba) comparing with non-specific molluscicide (neomyl) as a standard chemical pesticide against Monacha snail.

The tested oils as well as neomly were applied as sprays to Monacha adults under laboratory and field conditions.

All tested compounds gave satisfactory control against Monacha snail .

Neomly excreted highest molluscicidal potential followed by S.

aromaticum oil, N.

sativa oil and B.

alba oil under laboratory conditions where the mean value of mortality percentage reached 90, 79, 66 and 60 respectively after 21 days of treatment.

The tested compounds revealed the same trend of action against the target snail under field conditions i.e., the reduction % of population after 21 days of treatment was 93.28%, 76.76%, 64.16% and 50.75% for neomyl, S.

aromaticum, N.

sativa andB.

alba respectively with high significant difference in between (L.S.D0.05 = 2.89).

Bioassay toxicity test showed that S.

aromaticum oil was the most effective and B.

alba was the least effective after all time intervales i.e., value of LC50 was 4.17%, 9.29% and 15.29% after 24hrs; were 3.24%, 7.86% and 12.42% after 48 hrs; were 2.90%, 7.31% and 11.73% after 72 hrs and were 2.81%, 7.31% and 11.73% after 96 hrs for S.

aromaticum, N.

sativa and B.

alba respectively.

Toxicity index proved that S.

aromaticum oil was the superior one gave the arbitrary index value 100 unites.

and Relative potency established that B.

alba excerted the least toxic effect (fold ) against Monacha snail.

In the light of these results, clove oil, black cumin oil and mustard oil as botanical natural oils safe on the environment, can be used to control this pest as an attempt to dispense the usage of chemical pesticides.