Developmental response of Spodoptera litura Fab. to treatments of crude volatile oil from Piper betle L. and evaluation of toxicity to earthworm, Eudrilus eugeniae Kinb. Prabhakaran Vasantha-Srinivasan a , Sengottayan Senthil-Nathan a, * , Annamalai Thanigaivel a , Edward-Sam Edwin a , Athirstam Ponsankar a , Selvaraj Selin-Rani a , Venkatraman Pradeepa a , Muthiah Sakthi-Bhagavathy a , Kandaswamy Kalaivani b , Wayne B. Hunter c , Veeramuthu Duraipandiyan d , Naif Abdullah Al-Dhabi d a Division of Biopesticides and Environmental Toxicology, Sri Paramakalyani Centre for Excellence in Environmental Sciences, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Alwarkurichi, Tirunelveli 627 412, Tamil Nadu, India b Post Graduate and Research Department of Zoology, Sri Parasakthi College for Women, Courtrallam, Tirunelveli 627 802, Tamil Nadu, India c United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, 2001 South Rock Road, Fort Pierce, FL 34945, USA d Department of Botanyand Microbiology, Addiriya Chair for Environmental Studies, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box. 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia highlights graphical abstract  Twenty major compounds of CVO of Piper betle were detected through GCMS analysis.  CVO of P. betle significantly alters the behavior of Spodoptera litura.  Histological changes in the gut tis- sues of S. litura treated with CVO of P. betle were observed.  Earthworm toxicity showed no sig- nificant difference in treatment with CVO of P. betle comparable to chem- ical pesticides. article info Article history: Received 15 February 2016 Received in revised form 30 March 2016 Accepted 31 March 2016 Handling Editor: Jim Lazorchak Keywords: Botanicals Essential oil Insect abstract Evaluations of biological effects of (Pb-CVO) the crude volatile oil of Piper betle leaves on the tobacco cutworm Spodoptera litura were conducted. Pb-CVO was subjected to GC-MS analysis and twenty vital compounds were isolated from the betel leaf oil. Pb-CVO was tested at four different concentrations (0.25, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5%) against S. litura. The treated insects exhibited dose depended mortality. The mortality rate was significantly higher at the 1.0 and 1.5% Pb-CVO. The LC 50 (Lethal concentration) were observed at 0.48% Pb-CVO. Larval and pupal durations increased in all treatment concentrations (0.25, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5%) whereas, pupal weight decreased compared to control. Adult longevity of S. litura was reduced in all treatments but predominantly in the 0.4 and 0.5% Pb-CVO. Correspondingly, mean fecundity rate was reduced at all concentrations compared to control. Histological studies of larvae mid- gut profiles of S. litura were severely damaged in 1.0 and 1.5% and showed abnormalities in mid-gut cells with 0.25 and 0.5% Pb-CVO treatments. Earthworm toxicity illustrated that 0.1% of chemical insecticides * Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ91 4634 283066. E-mail addresses: senthil@msuniv.ac.in, senthilkalaidr@hotmail.com (S. Senthil- Nathan). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.03.139 0045-6535/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Chemosphere 155 (2016) 336e347