Research Topic No #4: Allium Cepa, Citrus Aurantium, and Citrus

Limon: Organic Fertilizer with Natural Pesticide

The thread caterpillar Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an insect
pest that attacks around 30 important crops such as broccoli, lettuce, carrots, potatoes,
beans and other crops. This insect pest when in the fourth instar feeds on the leaves
and in the early stages of development there is little loss of foliage, but at the end of the
fourth stage they can cut many young plants in a single night.
Onion weed, Asphodelus fistulosus L. (Liliaceae), is an annual or perennial,
unpalatable, drought-tolerant, grass-like herb that reproduces by seed only. It is native
to the Mediterranean regions of southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East,
extending through western Asia to India (Parsons and Cuthbertson 2001). It was
introduced to Australia in the 1850s as a garden as a weed of crops, pastures and
native vegetation, progressively moving north into arid rangeland areas. Spread along
roadsides was evident, but wind, water, people, agricultural produce and machinery,
animals and livestock also contributed to the spread of onion weed across the
landscape.
More than 55% of Africans, according to Nukenine (2010), earn their livelihood from
agriculture. However, both in the field and during storage, the products are threatened
by insects, rodents, birds and other pests (Hayma, 2003). It was suggested by Raja et
al. (2001), that insect damage in stored grains and other durable commodities may
amount to 10-40% in developing countries, where modern storage technologies have
not been introduced. In order to reduce post-harvest grain losses caused by insect-
pests, mainly grain weevils, grain borers, grain beetles and grain moths and other bio-
agents, insecticides have been used extensively to control infestations of these insect-
pests (Jackai, 1998). Insecticides are used worldwide because, by acting against pests
both during storage of crops and in the field, they have greatly improved agricultural
yield (Taylor et al., 1997). In addition to the use of chemical pesticides, there are
traditional post-harvest pest management methods. Blum & Bekele (2002) mentioned
the use of Euphorbia tirucalli, Phytolacca dodecandra, Tagetes minuta and Capsicum
frutescens as plants with pesticidal effects, which are used by farmers in Ethiopia, to
protect stored grains.
Despite all these benefits however, residues of pesticides are known to remain in soil
(Subbarao, 1999), water (Medina et al., 1999) and also in vegetables and fruits
(Ahouangninou et al., 2012; Osman et al., 2010) which constitute a risk for human
health. According to Pimentel et al. (1998) the mutagenicity of pesticides for non-target
organisms and their effects on ecosystems are of concern worldwide. In a joint report of
WHO and UNEP, cited in Richter (2002) human pesticide poisonings worldwide was put
at over 26 million with about 220,000 deaths per year. Other reported cases of adverse
effects to health caused by pesticides include damage to the nervous system (Kamel et
al., 2007), respiratory and lung disorders (Hoppin et al., 2008), damage to reproductive
organs (Hileman, 1994) and birth defects (Rojas et al., 2000).
It is well known that plants are direct recipients of agrotoxins and the Allium cepa assay
is one of the plant assay systems used widely to study the genotoxic effects of
pesticides. Many of such studies have demonstrated the induction of chromosomal
aberrations by pesticides (Fernandes et al., 2007). Plants have been shown to be valid
alternatives to animal testing because chemicals which induce chromosomal aberration
(CA) in plant cells frequently induce identical chromosome aberrations in animal cell
cultures (Grant, 1978). Gap exists in the available data on the genotoxicity of some of
the pesticides used in Lesotho in the Allium cepa assay. While Dichlorvos, malathion
and/or mixtures containing them have been tested in the Vicia faba meristem cells for
chromosomal aberrations (Amer & Ali, 1986) and the Allium cepa assay (Asita &
Makhalemele, 2009), we are not aware of genotoxicity tests of Phosphine, permethrin
and smoke condensate using the Allium cepa assay system.
The genus Citrus has tremendous industrial value all over the globe not only for its
nutritive juicy high valued fruits but also for the essential oils present in its different
vegetative parts. Thus, both the Citrus fruits and citrus essential oils bear potential to
generate livelihood & to boost the country’s economy. Citrus essential oils (CEOs) with
diverse biologically active compounds of terpene groups with pleasant aroma have
already achieved significant positions in flavor, food, cosmetic industries. At the same
time, because of their antimicrobial activities as well as anticancer, antioxidant, anti-
inflammatory, metabolic disorder alleviating activities etc. these oils and their
compounds have been getting importance in pharmaceutical and medical sectors for
the last few decades. A good number of studies also reported insecticidal potential of
citrus EOs extracted from different citrus sp. and their constituents at different times, a
few of which are commercialized to be used by the consumers against insect pests. 
Lemon is found to be very effective against ants. A few drops of squeezed lemon juice
directly over the nest is an effective way to get rid of ants. The fruit of lemon has a
considerable percentage of citric acid, which is found to have natural repellent
properties. There are many pests and insects that simply dislike the natural scent of
lemon. Moreover, not only fresh lemon but the outer skin of lemon commonly known as
the lemon peel can be dried and also used as a natural pest repeller especially in those
areas like the kitchen, where pesticides or any other form of chemical can not be used
to get rid of pests.
FERTILIZER
Based on fertilizer form, there are two types of fertilizer. First one is granular/pellet
fertilizer which is in dry and solid form. Granular fertilizer can be created by blending
some individual granular fertilizer in a certain ratio to achieve the desired purpose
(Hopper, 2015). The second fertilizer is liquid/foliar fertilizer which is in liquid
form and applied by spraying the fertilizer on leaves. The liquid fertilizer is usually
provided in liquid concentrated form or water-soluble pellet (Martinez-Alcantaraet al.,
2016).