Investigating insecticidal properties of Euphorbia ingens (E. Mey. Ex Boiss, 1862) latex against common household cockroach pests namely Blattella germanica (Linnaeus, 1767) and Periplaneta americana (Linnaeus, 1758) under laboratory settings

Abstract

Cockroaches have been reported to serve as mechanical vectors for various disease-causing pathogens, such as Escherichia coli (Castellani & Chalmers, 1919), Klebsiella pneumonia (Schroeter, 1886), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Schroeter, 1758), and Enterobacter aerogenes (Hormaeche & Edwards, 1960). They are controlled and prevented by good hygienic practices and the use of insecticides prepared from synthetic and organic products. Synthetic insecticides are preferred over other methods; however, they are associated with significant adverse effects. Plants of the genus Euphorbia have been reported to possess insecticidal properties against roaches. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the insecticidal properties of Euphorbia ingens (E. Mey. Ex Boiss, 1862) latex against adult Blattella germanica (Linnaeus, 1767) and Periplaneta americana (Linnaeus, 1758) and to preliminarily determine its phytochemical constituents. Qualitative analysis revealed that E. ingens latex has a moderate presence of glycosides and a strong presence of alkaloids, tannins, phenols, saponins, and terpenoids. The mortality percentages of B. germanica and P. americana exposed to E. ingens latex increased with increasing concentrations and the highest concentration of 100% resulted in 100% mortality for both B. germanica and P. americana. The plant achieved LC50 values of 25.12% against B. germanica and 30.90% against P. americana. Thereafter, the standard error of the mean LC50 for B. germanica and P. americana was determined to be (25.12 ± 8.13) and (30.90 ± 10.24), respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that E. ingens latex contains various phytochemical compounds and insecticidal properties against B. germanica and P. americana.