Comparative selectivity of nano and commercial formulations of pirimicarb on a target pest, Brevicoryne brassicae, and its predator Chrysoperla carnea

• Published in: Ecotoxicology (London) Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 361 - 372
• Main Authors: Maroofpour, Nariman, Mousavi, Mahdieh, Hejazi, Mir Jalil, Iranipour, Shahzad, Hamishehkar, Hamed, Desneux, Nicolas, Biondi, Antonio, Haddi, Khalid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-03-2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age; Animals; Aphididae; Aphids; Aquatic insects; Biological production; Brevicoryne brassicae; Carbamates; Chrysoperla carnea; Chrysopidae; Comparative analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental impact; Environmental Management; Formulations; Insecta; Insecticides; Insecticides - toxicity; Insects; Lipids; Nanotechnology; Natural enemies; Pesticides; Pests; Population growth; Predators; Pyrimidines; Reduction; Risk assessment; Selectivity; Sublethal effects; Toxicity; Nanostructured lipid carriers; Sublethal effect; Integrated pest management; Life table; Nanopesticides
• ISSN: 0963-9292; 1573-3017
• DOI: 10.1007/s10646-021-02349-x

Nanotechnology is a new field in the pesticide industry. Nanopesticides represent an emerging technological tool that offers a range of benefits including increased efficacy, durability, and reduction in the amounts of used active ingredients. However, due to the lack of studies on the toxicity and the sublethal effects on pests and natural enemies, the extent of action and fate of these nanopesticdes is still not fully understood limitting thus their wide use. In this study, we encapsulated the pirimicarb insecticide using nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) and investigated the toxicity and sublethal effects (LC
25
) of the resulting nanocapsules against the cabbage aphid,
Brevicoryne brassicae
(Linnaeus) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and its natural enemy the green lacewings
Chrysoperla carnea
(Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). Nanoencapsulation of pirimicarb enhanced 12.6-fold its toxicity to cabbage aphids compared to its commercial formulation. Furthermore, analysis of the age-stage, two-sex life table showed that negative effects on the
B. brassicae
aphid population growth were observed on F0 and F1 generations when aphids of parental (F0) generation were exposed to subelethal dose (LC
25
) of both formulations of pirimicarb. However, negative effects from sublethal exposure to the commercial and nanoformulated pirimicarb resulted in significant reduction on the
net reproductive rate
,
intrinsic rate of natural increase
, and
finite rate of increase
of the green lacewings
C. carnea
. Our findings indicate that the approaches and assumptions used to assess the risks of conventional insecticides may not apply for nanopesticides. Further research is still needed to better understand the environmental impact of these compounds.