Leónides Castellanos González, Aniurka Fernández Valero, Isabel Ortega Meseguer and José Orestes Guerra de León Effectiveness of Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urban extract on Myzus persicae Sulzer (CETAS) Centre of Studies for the Sustainable Agrarian Transformation. University of Cienfuegos Rodas road. Cienfuegos. Presented at the 3rd e-Conference on Agricultural BioSciences (IeCAB 2010), held online from1st -15th June 2010 at

Introduction  The Flora of Cuba is so rich and varied with more than six thousand species of higher plants, of which 50% or more are endemic.  Their characterisation improves the possibility of using them more rationally.  138 species of plants have been reported with some pesticidal effects.  Farmers have little knowledge about the use of biochemical pesticides and their effectiveness.  A new plant that is not yet reported in literature, well-known as maguey (Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urban is used by farmers.  The objective of this study was to determine the technical effectiveness of the extract of F. hexapetala on M. persicae in laboratory and field conditions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS The vegetative material was obtained in the community "Babiney "in the municipality of Abreus in Cienfuegos province. The leaves of F. hexapetala were selected from mature plants of 2 m height that possessed leaves of approximately 1 m long and 10 cm wide, which were on a shaft of 50 cm height and 15 cm in diameter (Figure 1).

Effect of leaf extracts of Furcraea hexapetala "in vitro" The vegetative materials were extracted using sugar mill. The product was filtered and prepared into different concentrations of 100, 50, 25 and 12.5% (the last same to the concentration used by the farmers Each assay had five treatments (4 levels of extracts + a control of distilled sterile water) M. persicae was obtained of potato's field of Desirée variety of 35 planted Treatments applied using manual sprayer Two assays were conducted on potato and pepper leaves

% mortality = A - B / A x 100 Where A: Number of live individuals' in the control. B: Number of live individuals' in the treatment Data subjected to Analysis of Variance by SPSS The percentage data were transformed in 2 arc sin√ p (Lerch, 1977) Means were compared by the test of multiple ranges of Duncan with a probability of error of 5%. In each assay five Petri dishes were used per treatment, which constituted the replicates. A pepper or potato leaf was placed in each per Petri dish; a piece of cotton moistened with sterile distilled water was placed in the peduncle of the leaf and surrounding it, to prevent the aphids from escaping. With the help of a paintbrush 10 aphids were placed on each leaf

Two assay: one in potato field and one in pepper field. Each assay had five treatments (four levels of leaf extracts -100, 50, 25 and 12.5% and a control (water treatment). All applied using manual sprayer. At the 24 th, 48 th and 72 nd hour after spraying the plants were evaluated to determine the number of aphids per plant in each plot. Data subjected to analysis of variance using SPSS The percentage data were transformed in 2 arc sin√ p (Lerch, 1977) Effect of the leaf extract of Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urban under field conditions Means were compared by the test of multiple ranges of Duncan with a probability of error of 5%. This information allowed determination of the technical effectiveness of each concentration of the leaf extract using the Abbott formula (Ciba Geigy, 1981).

Determination of the effect of different fractions of the leaf extract of F. hexapetala on M. persicae under laboratory conditions The cuticle covering the leaves was removed before chopping them into sizes; the pieces were placed on a stove at 40°C until constant weight A hydro alcoholic mixture (ethanol-water; 70:30) was prepared. To obtain the leaf extract: g of the leaf material (powdered) was macerated in 2000 ml of the hydro alcoholic solvent. Successive extraction processes were carried out with solvent of growing polarity (petroleum, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol) until obtaining a crude extract of saponins (in butanolic extract) evaluated on Myzus persicae under laboratory conditions The effect of the four obtained extracts: hydro alcoholic extract hydro alcoholic extract with chloroform, hydro alcoholic extract with ethyl acetate and the n-butanol extract (crude of saponins)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table 1: Technical effectiveness of the leaf extracts of Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urban on Myzus persicae Sulzer raised on pepper under laboratory conditions. Treatments Technical effectiveness ( % ) Time of exposition24 h48 h72 h Extract of F. hexapetala 100%64.0 ns80.5 ns88.00 ns Extract of F. hexapetala 50 %54.55 ns73.0 ns78.0 ns Extract of F. hexapetala 25 %50.5 ns69.0 ns76.5 ns Extract of F. hexapetala 12.5 %48.0 ns68.0 ns74.25 ns Standard error Coefficient of variation ( % ) n/s - Not statistical significance.

Table 2: Technical effectiveness of the leaf extracts of Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urban on Myzus persicae Sulzer raised on potato under laboratory conditions. Technical effectiveness ( % ) Time of exposition24 h48 h72 h Treatment Extract of F. hexapetala 100%60 ns82.25 ns84.0 ns Extract of F. hexapetala 50 %56 ns75.0 ns80.0 ns Extract of F. hexapetala 25 %53 ns73.0 ns76.0 ns Extract of F. hexapetala 12.5 %47 ns69.0 ns73.0 ns Standard error * Coefficient of variation ( % ) * n/s - Not statistically significant.

Table 3: Technical effectiveness of the leaf extracts of Furcraea hexapetala Jacq.) Urban on the populations of Myzus persicae Sulzer in pepper under field conditions. Treatments Population level (aphids/plant) Technical effectiveness ( % ) 24 h48 h72 h24 h48 h72 h Extract of F. hexapetala 100%1.96 b1.12 b0.68 b Extract of F. hexapetala 50 %2.32 b1.32 b0.84 b Extract of F. hexapetala 25 %2.44 b1.32 b0.92 b Extract of F. hexapetala 12.5 %2.50 b1.40 b1.16 b Control4.0 a Standard error * Coefficient of variation ( % ) *Means followed by different letters are significantly different at p <0.05 according to Duncan’s Multiple Range Test.

Table 4: Technical effectiveness of the leaf extracts of Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urban on populations of Myzus persicae Sulzer in potato under field conditions. Treatments Populación level (aphids/plant) Technical effectiveness ( % ) 24 h48 h72 h24 h48 h72 h Extract of F. hexapetala 100%4.0 b1.5 b0.9 b Extract of F. hexapetala 50 %4.0 b2.2 b1.3 b Extract of F. hexapetala 25 %4.3 b2.2 b1.4 b Extract of F. hexapetala 12.5 %4.5 b2.4 b1.5 b Control7.5 a Standard error * Coefficient of variation ( % ) *Means followed by different letters are significantly different at p <0.05 according to Duncan’s Multiple Range Test.

Table 5: Technical effectiveness of the different fractions of leaf extract of Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urban on M. persicae under laboratory conditions. Variants Technical effectiveness ( % ) Time of exposition24 h48 h72 h Hydro alcoholic extract70 a70 b80 b Chloroform extract40 b70 b70 bc Ethyl acetate extract30 b50 c60 c N butanol extract75 a100 a Standard error * Coefficient of variation ( % ) *Means followed by different letters are significantly different at p <0.05 according to Duncan’s Multiple Range Test.

1. The extract of Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urban manifested technical effectiveness on Myzus persicae Sulzer higher than 73% "in vitro" and 71% under field conditions, both on pepper and on potato plants. 2. The butanolic fraction of the extract of F. hexapetala reached 100% effectiveness on M. persicae, confirming that the insecticidal effect of the plant is due to the saponins present. CONCLUSIONS

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