Bioefficacy of green chemistry insecticides against termite odontotermes obesus rambur and red ant Dorylus orientalis westwood

Three insecticides viz., imidacloprid (Admire 70 WG), clothianidin (Dantotsu 50 WDG) and thiamethoxam (Actara 25 WG) were evaluated against termite, Odontotermes obesus and red ant, Dorylus orientalis by using dry film method. It was observed that all the tested insecticides were very effective against test insectpests but thiamethoxam was found to be the most superior insecticide. The mortality of termites and red ants increased gradually with increase in concentration as well as increase in exposure period. The order of toxicity to termite and ant, at 24 hours post exposure period, was recorded as thiamethoxam (2.6 ppm) > clothianidin (5.6 ppm) > imidacloprid (9.8 ppm) and thiamethoxam (8.5 ppm) > clothianidin (14.9 ppm) > imidacloprid (31.9 ppm), respectively. The median lethal time (LT₅₀) values revealed that thiamethoxam was the most fast acting insecticide as compared to the other tested insecticides at the highest concentrations for both the test insects.