Lab-grown prickly pear cactus makes a stronger natural pesticide
Elqady EM, El-Said E, Moustafa MAM, Almozini RN, Badr NF
Crop Improvement
If you've battled caterpillars stripping your vegetable beds, this points toward a plant-based spray that could someday replace synthetic insecticides in your own garden.
Researchers grew prickly pear cactus pads in test tubes instead of soil, and by tweaking the growth hormones in the culture, they got the plants to pack in way more protective compounds like gallic acid and kaempferol. When they turned those pads into extracts and tested them on beet armyworm caterpillars, the lab-grown version was far more toxic than extract from a normal greenhouse-grown cactus, damaging the pests' gut tissue and disrupting their cell chemistry.
Key Findings
Tissue-cultured cactus extract with growth regulators (Op2) had the highest phenolic (61.1 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid (131.95 mg QE/g) content, plus elevated gallic acid and kaempferol levels
Op2 extract was most toxic to caterpillars, with LC50 values of 4.87 mg/mL (young larvae) and 2.70 mg/mL (older larvae)
Treated larvae showed up to 5.20-fold higher lactate dehydrogenase activity and 82.18% suppressed glutathione peroxidase activity, plus severe gut and skin tissue damage; kaempferol showed the strongest molecular binding to these target enzymes
chevron_right Technical Summary
Growing prickly pear cactus in lab tissue culture with certain growth hormones boosts its natural pest-fighting chemicals, making extracts far more effective at killing beet armyworm caterpillars than extracts from regular greenhouse-grown plants.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Enhanced polyphenolic production in tissue culture-derived Opuntia ficus-indica increases larvicidal activity against Spodoptera exigua: biochemical, histological and molecular docking evidence.
The accelerating resistance of Spodoptera exigua to synthetic insecticides demands the development of eco-friendly botanical alternatives. Plant tissue culture provides a controlled means to enhanc...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Opuntia, commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid climates; however, they are still vulnerable to alterations in pr...