Background: Considerable attention has been paid to actinomycetes, especially the secondary metabolites obtained from Streptomyces species, as the best alternatives to chemicals as biological control agents for polyphagous pests such as Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura. On the basis of their novel biocontrol attributes, novel polyketide metabolite isolated from marine Streptomyces sp. AP-123 exhibited significant antifeedant, larvicidal and growth inhibitory activities against polyphagous pests.
Results: Leaf disc no-choice method was used for the insect bioassay. The polyketide metabolite presented significant antifeedant activities against H. armigera (78.51%) and S. litura (70.75%) at 1000 ppm concentration. The metabolite also exhibited high larvicidal activities against H. armigera (63.11%) and S. litura (58.22%) and the LC50 values were 645.25 ppm for H. armigera and 806.54 ppm for S. litura. The metabolite also prolonged the larval-pupal duration of the insects at all the tested concentrations.
Conclusions: The activities of the polyketide metabolite were concentration dependent for both the insects therefore it could be used as an agent to prepare new pesticidal formulations.