DEVELOPMENT OF BIO-PESTICIDES AGAINST METISA PLANA WALKER BAGWORM (LEPIDOPTERA: PSYCHIDAE)

The agrochemical business places a high priority on the development of ecologically friendly pesticides for sustainable agriculture. The main hurdles in developing new pesticides are identifying novel active ingredients and optimising the delivery system of a pesticide are the main challenges in developing new pesticides. Currently, it appears that the use of renewable resources, particularly plant oils as pyrolyzed bio-oil has the potential to replace the traditional petroleum-based solvents in liquid pesticide formulations. The palm kernel shellderived bio-oil contains high concentrations of oil esters compounds (methyl esters) which can effectively encapsulate or bind the pesticide’s active ingredients in the material’s matrix. These properties drive the selection of this materials to be utilised as carrier (inert ingredients) in the pesticide formulations. This study aims to investigate the viability of using bio-oil to substitute petroleum-based oil as carrier in bio-pesticide formulation against insect pest such as Metisa plana bagworm. Prior to formulation, the ternary phase diagram was used to assess the compatibility between bio-oil and surfactants such as Tween 20 and Tween 80 as bio-pesticide ingredients. According to the compatibility results, the best formulation contains 20% surfactant. Based on these circumstances, the experiment was designed with an active ingredient extracted from neem seeds, azadirachtin. The results showed that the formulated bio-pesticide could repel 50% of the bagworm population, with a lethal concentration (LC50) of 22.1 g/ml. As a result, this study contributes to our knowledge of waste management and brings us closer to a zero-waste strategy for a cleaner environment.