Pesticidal activity of piperine against Lipaphis erysimi (Mustard aphid) and Meloidogyne incognita (Root knot nematode)

The piperine from fruits of Piper longum (Family: Piperaceae), commonly known as long pepper, was evaluated for aphidicidal (mustard aphid) and nematicidal (root knot nematode) activities. The powdered fruits of P. longum were defatted with hexane and extracted with methanol. Piperine was isolated from the methanolic extract by column chromatography and identified using different spectroscopic techniques (IR, NMR and MS). Piperine was evaluated against Lipaphis erysimi and M. incognita at 125 to 1000 ppm concentrations under laboratory conditions. Results showed the promising insecticidal activity of piperine against L. erysimi with mortality ranging from 24.0 to 84.3% after 24 to 72 h of treatment, compared to 99.0% at 300 ppm dimethoate. It also showed significant mortality (26.0 to 61.7%) of J2 of M. incognita, but less effective than fluopyrum (velum prime) at 25 ppm (66.0 to 99.0% mortality) after 24 to 96 h of treatment. These results suggests that piperine can be used at higher concentration as aphidicidal and nematicidal molecule of plant origin in agriculture.