Phytochemicals from Ficus sycomorus L. leaves act as insecticides and acaricides

Phytophagus insects cause damage and economic loss in crops. The indiscriminate application of synthetic products has led to various problems. Among all, bioactive natural compounds considered to have an activity because of the presence of several chemicals that can exert their activities both as fumigants and by direct contact. The bioactive phytochemicals from Ficus sycomorus leaves were analyzed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Insecticidal and acaricidal of the bioactive components were also determined. Results show that the chemical analysis of vaporous from F. sycomorus leaves allowed identification of 1, 2 benzenedicarboxilic acid, diisooctyl ester  (45.06%), n-Hexadecanoic acid (7.67), 1H-pyrazole,4-Nitro (5.13), 3-Hexen-1- ol, benzoate,Z (4.57), oleic acid (4.30), hexanedioic acid, bis (2-ethyl hexyl) ester (4.15), methyl oleate (2.41), 3- buten- 2-one, 4-(2, 6, 6-trimethyl-1-cyclohexen-1-yl) (2.08), 9- octadecenoic acid (Z)- 2-hydroxy-1-(hydroxymethyl) ethyl ester (1.79), benzene methanol (1.59), Cycloheptasiloxane,tetradecamethyl (1.38), Z, Z- 3, 13- octadecadien-1-ol (1.31), 2- pentadecanone (1.27), 1-methylbicyclo [4.1.0] heptanes 1-methylnorcarane (1.06), L- linalool (1.04), cyclohexene (1.03) and methyl  jasmonate (0.94) as main parts. The bioactive phytochemicals from F. sycomorus leaves were reported to be more toxic as the fumigant toxicity tests than the contact phase to the tested insects. The concentrations at 0.1, 0.01 and 0.001% were found to be repellent to adult females of Tetranychus utricae, followed by Aphis craccivora and Sitophilus oryzae, respectively. Here we demonstrate that bioactive phytochemicals from F. sycomorus leaves have a wide range of insecticidal and acaricidal and could become an alternative to synthetic pesticides for controlling certain important insects and mites.   Key words: Ficus sycomorus leaves, gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Sitophilus oryzae,Aphis craccivora, Tetranychus urticae.