Natural pesticide protects cattle against ticks in Africa

A solution may lie in the perennial plant, Lippia javanica, widely consumed to alleviate symptoms of fever is also used by some farmers to make a pesticide. The University of Greenwich team in collaboration with the University of Zimbabwe, pulped and soaked the Lippia leaves in water to produce an extract which could be sprayed on cattle. Varying concentrations were tried to discover the best application method and the level of protection provided by the plant extract.

The research was led by Phil Stevenson, Professor of Plant Chemistry and Dr Steven Belmain, Ecologist, from the Agriculture, Health & Environment Department at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI). Professor Phil Stevenson says: “When used at the correct dosage, Lippia javanica proved to be almost as effective as the industrial pesticides used for tick control.”

The shrub’s leaves can easily be harvested from abundant bushes in the wild and can also be easily grown from seed. Therefore, farmers need think only about the time it takes them to harvest and prepare the Lippia extract as opposed to buying expensive commercial synthetic products.

Further work is being carried out to refine the extraction of the active ingredients of the plant and optimise application on the lower parts of the animal where the ticks usually attach themselves.

The work is part of the EU funded African Dryland Alliance for Pesticidal Plant Technologies (ADAPPT) project led by NRI, together with partners including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and non-governmental organisations, agricultural institutes, ministries and universities from eight African countries.

The project is carrying out research into the use of plants as environmentally benign and safer alternatives to synthetic pesticides. It is examining roots, leaves, seeds, and flowers requiring only basic preparation which farmers can use to reduce field crop damage, stored product losses and livestock illness or mortality.

ADAPPT also seeks to establish a network for promoting and improving the use of indigenous botanical knowledge for food security and poverty alleviation in Africa.

For more information see the project website at www.nri.org/adappt

To learn more about the University of Greenwich’s Natural Resources Institute see http://www.gre.ac.uk/schools/nri

Media Contact

Nick Davison alfa

All latest news from the category: Agricultural and Forestry Science

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Novel catalyst for charge separation in photocatalytic water splitting

A research team led by Prof. JIANG Hailong, Prof. LUO Yi, and Prof. JIANG Jun from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) discovered a metal-organic framework (MOF)…

Finding a missing piece for neurodegenerative disease research

Research led by the University of Michigan has provided compelling  evidence that could solve a fundamental mystery in the makeup of fibrils that play a role in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and…

BESSY II: New procedure for better thermoplastics

Thermoplastic blends, produced by a new process, have better resilience. Now, experiments at the IRIS beamline show, why: nanocrystalline layers increase their performance. Bio-based thermoplastics are produced from renewable organic…