Insecticidal effect of Ammi visnaga L. (Apiaceae: Apial) methanolic extract against a citrus pest, Toxoptera aurantii (Aphididae: Homoptera) under controlled conditions

Ammi visnaga L. (Apiaceae) is an endemic Algerian aromatic plant, largely used in traditional medicine, and mostly for renal problems with a very few reported studies on its insecticidal activity. Current work is a contribution to the insecticidal effect of methanolic extract of aerial parts of Ammi visnaga collected at various stages of growth against Toxoptera aurantii. Eight different extract of six different doses were tested which showed a proportional relation between mortality and the applied doses. The maximum of mortality (98.33%) was obtained for the highest dose (30000 ng/aphids) after 24h for steams extract collected before flowering. Cumulative mortality of the treated aphids occurred in the second day with a rate of 100%. The LD50 value determined using the linear regression was 310.53 ng/ aphids < [D5-D6] for the said dose.