Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-019-02448-7 ORIGINAL PAPER Evaluation of insecticidal activity of nanoformulation of Melia azedarach (leaf ) extract as a safe environmental insecticide Z. Khoshraftar 1  · A. A. Safekordi 1  · A. Shamel 2  · M. Zaefzadeh 3 Received: 19 September 2018 / Revised: 11 April 2019 / Accepted: 19 June 2019 © Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2019 Abstract Continued use of chemical pesticides causes environmental pollution in Iran and other countries. The use of botanical compounds such as plant extracts is considered as an alternative to synthetic pesticides. In this study, insecticidal activities of the nanoencapsulated leaf extracts of Melia azedarach of Iranian origin were evaluated for the frst time. In the current study, the chemical composition of Melia extract and insecticidal activities of the plant extract and coated nanoliposomes on adults of Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Myzus persicae were evaluated. Results indicated that the Melia extract (uncoated nanoliposomes and coated nanoliposomes) is more toxic to the T. vaporariorum. The nanoencapsulated M. azedarach (leaf) extract morphology was determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and optical microscopy (OM). The results of TEM and OM indicated that the morphology of nanoencapsulated Melia (leaf) extract is in spherical shape. The major components in plant extract were as follows: benzenedicarboxylic acid (41.307%), ethyl benzoate (16.18%) and isoxazole (6.13%). The fumigant toxicity of nanoencapsulated M. azedarach had an ordered relationship with the concentration and time exposure. Probit analysis showed that the LC 50 values of plant extract for T. vaporariorum and M. persicae were 492.85 and 547.65 ppm for 48-h exposure, respectively. The mortality percentage of Trialeurodes vaporariorum by pure plant extract and plant extract of Melia azedarach loaded nanoliposomes for 20 days after the production of pesticides 13% and 83% were obtained, respectively. The overall results indicated that nanoencapsulated M. azedarach extract has high potential in controlling pests. Keywords Botanical insecticide · Nanopesticides · Melia azedarach · Chemical composition Introduction Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Myzus persicae are the most serious and economically important pests of a green- house crop (Safavi and Bakhshaei 2017; Bass et al. 2014). The use of chemical pesticides has been challenged due to some agents such as environmental pollutions, and per- sistent organic pollutants continue to poison nontarget organisms in the environment (Esmaeily et al. 2014; Lu et al. 2012; Osanloo et al. 2017; Wan et al. 2015). Recently, researchers have shown that many plants have a number of secondary metabolites which have more bio- logical activities. The use of botanical pesticides to pro- tect crops has long been recommended as the replacement of chemical pesticides because the crops have to be free from the toxicity of chemical insecticides resulting from an accumulation of pesticides in environment (Karabelas et al. 2009; Mahdi et al. 2011; Klys and Przystupinska 2015; Mahmoodi et al. 2014; Pavela and Benelli 2016; Benelli et al. 2018, 2019; Khoshraftar et al. 2018). The secondary metabolites such as alkaloids are important metabolites used as pesticides (Derbalah 2012; Guella et al. 1996). Examples are nicotine from Nicotiana taba- cum, rotenone from Lonchocarpus, derris dust from Der- ris elliptica and pyrethrum fowers containing up to 1.5% of pyrethrin (active insecticidal substance) (Dales 1996; Oberemok et al. 2015; Davies et al. 2007). Many of these Editorial responsibility: Xu Han. * A. Shamel a_shamel@iauardabil.ac.ir 1 Department of Chemistry, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Chemistry, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran 3 Department of Biology, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran