Addition of a surfactant to water increases the acaricidal activity of extracts of some plant species used to control ticks by Zimbabwean smallholder farmers

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.author Nyahangare, Emmanuel T.
dc.contributor.author Mvumi, Brighton M.
dc.contributor.author McGaw, Lyndy Joy
dc.contributor.author Eloff, Jacobus Nicolaas
dc.date.accessioned 2020-07-17T05:54:38Z
dc.date.available 2020-07-17T05:54:38Z
dc.date.issued 2019-11-09
dc.description.abstract BACKGROUND : Many studies have revealed that bioactive compounds for different indications are not extracted from plants with water, the only extractant practically available to rural communities. We compared the acaricidal activity of acetone extracts of 13 species used traditionally to protect cattle against ticks. We also investigated if the extraction of biologically active compounds against Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus ticks could be enhanced by adding a liquid soap that is locally available to smallholder farmers. METHODS : A total of 13 plant species selected based on reported traditional use in Zimbabwe, were dried and finely ground before extraction with water, or water plus a surfactant, or acetone. The adapted Shaw Larval Immersion Test (SLIT) method was used to determine the activity of acetone and crude water extracts with or without liquid soap against the tick larvae. The activity of four fractions of crude acetone extracts (extracted using solvents of different polarity), of the most active plant species, Maerua edulis (tuber and leaf) was also compared to identify the most active fraction. RESULTS : Aqueous plant extracts were not toxic to ticks, but the addition of 1% liquid soap as a surfactant increased mortality of the R. (B) decoloratus larvae significantly. With the Maerua edulis tuber extract, the efficacy of the 1% liquid soap was comparable to that of the amitraz based commercial synthetic acaricide. The use of acetone as an extractant, also increased the mortality of the tick larvae in all the plant species. With M. edulis (tuber and leaf), Monadenium lugardae and Kleinia sp. acetone extracts, the activity was comparable to that of the positive control (a commercially available amitraz-based synthetic acaricide). The non-polar fractions of the acetone extract of leaf and tuber of M. edulis caused up to 100% mortality. This indicates that non-polar to intermediate polarity compounds are responsible for the acaricidal activity. CONCLUSION : Organic solvents such as acetone extracted active compounds but water did not. By adding commonly available dishwashing soap to water active compounds were extracted leading to a high acaricidal activity of the plant extracts. In some cases, it was as active as non-polar extracts and a synthetic commercial acaricide (positive control). This approach makes it possible for the smallholder farmers and traditional healers to extract biologically active compounds from plants by using water. en_ZA
dc.description.department Production Animal Studies en_ZA
dc.description.librarian am2020 en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorship The European Commission’s European Development Fund ACP S&T Programme grant FED/2013/329272 (OPTIONs) and the Technology Innovation Agency in South Africa. en_ZA
dc.description.uri https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com en_ZA
dc.identifier.citation Nyahangare, E.T., Mvumi, B.M., McGaw, L.J. et al. 2019, 'Addition of a surfactant to water increases the acaricidal activity of extracts of some plant species used to control ticks by Zimbabwean smallholder farmers', BMC Veterinary Research, vol. 15, art. 404, pp. 1-7. en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn 1746-6148 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.1186/s12917-019-2078-3
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/75337
dc.language.iso en en_ZA
dc.publisher BioMed Central en_ZA
dc.rights © The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. en_ZA
dc.subject Water extracts en_ZA
dc.subject Acetone en_ZA
dc.subject Solvent-solvent fractionation en_ZA
dc.subject Cattle tick en_ZA
dc.subject SLIT bioassay en_ZA
dc.subject Tick larvae mortality en_ZA
dc.subject Biological activity en_ZA
dc.subject Shaw larval immersion test (SLIT) en_ZA
dc.subject Zimbabwean smallholder farmers
dc.title Addition of a surfactant to water increases the acaricidal activity of extracts of some plant species used to control ticks by Zimbabwean smallholder farmers en_ZA
dc.type Article en_ZA


Files in this item

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record