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VOL. 10, ISSUE 12 (2025)
Cellular damage and physiological alterations in the soft scale insect Kilifia acuminata (Signoret) induced by avocado oil (Persea americana) and dill (Anethum graveolens) oils and their joint action in mango
Authors
Yomna Nabil Mohamed Abd Allah, Hend Mohamed Abd-Elmonem
Abstract
The soft scale, Kilifia acuminata (Signoret) (Hemiptera:
Pseudococcidae) is the most pests invading mango trees (Mangifera indica
L.) all over the world. Here, we aim to evaluate the efficacy of two oils:
avocado (Persea americana Mill.) (AO), dill (Anethum graveolens L.)
(DO) and their binary treatment (AO+DO treated group) as natural insecticides
against K. acuminata in mango (Mangifera
indica L.) using spray application. This study estimated that the
effectiveness of alone treatment concentrations (0.2, 0.6, 1 and 2 %) and the
binary treatment at 2 % of the two oils via examining toxicity test (LC50).
The obtained results showed that LC50 AO value was recorded at a
concentration of 0.32%, and LC50 DO value was recorded at a
concentration of 0.30 % and binary treatment value after 48 h. In the field
assessment the binary treatment reduced K. acuminata nymphs than AO or
DO. In other word, the mean reduction after 45 days in the open field by AO+DO treated group was 74.66% followed by 54.25 and
56.77 % caused by AO and DO groups, respectively. Also, this study showed that
alone and binary treatments induced dark areas in the nymph bodies. The
biochemical analysis of the treated nymphs revealed that there were significant
variations in total protein concentration, and the activities of acidic phosphatase
(ACP), phenol oxidase (PhO) enzymes, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), asparate
aminotransferase (AST), and α-esterase (α-EST) activities under laboratory and
field applications (p<0.001) at 2% concentration. The physiological
disturbances caused in protein content and certain enzymes activities led to
clear cell damage and it was shown via ultra micrographs as shown by Transmission
Electron Microscope "TEM".
The complete cellular damage caused by the binary treatment AO+DO- treated
group. In particular, cellular alterations including degraded cell membrane,
fragmented cells, damaged normal cells, shrunken cells, an appearance of
vacuoles, fatty bodies fragmentation and an appearance of cell apoptosis.
Finally, this study concluded that AO, DO and their promising binary treatment
can act as natural insecticides induced insecticidal activity against K.
acuminata and can be used in the biological control program in Integrated
crop protection (IPM) in the field.
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Pages:174-184
How to cite this article:
Yomna Nabil Mohamed Abd Allah, Hend Mohamed Abd-Elmonem "Cellular damage and physiological alterations in the soft scale insect <i>Kilifia acuminata</i> (Signoret)<i> </i>induced by avocado oil (<i>Persea americana</i>) and dill (<i>Anethum graveolens</i>) oils and their joint action in mango". International Journal of Entomology Research, Vol 10, Issue 12, 2025, Pages 174-184
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