Some physiological, biochemical and histopathological effects of Artemisia monosperma against the cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis

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The effect of Artemisia monosperma wild plant hexane extract on some biological and physiological aspects of Spodoptera littoralis, as well as some biochemical and histopathological changes after treatment with this extract have been studied. The results indicated that treatment with larvae for two days revealed satisfactory effects in larval mortality (50%) and in larval weight and prolonged the effect in the pupal stage. Also the treatment reduced the food consumption and the amount of faeces of the tested larvae which led to a significant reduction in the final body weight with 76.4%. Treatment also extended the time of food passage through the midgut to 3.2 h compared to 1.38 h in control, and the larvae had a smaller midgut. The enzymatic activity of the digestive enzymes amylase and invertase revealed a significant inhibition in the treated larvae. Also transaminase enzyme activity (AST and ALT) reduced after treatment. The results of phosphatase enzyme activity (ACP and ALP) showed a potent inhibitory effect on both enzymes which more was pronounced in ALP than ACP activity, the percent inhibition being 73.8% and 30.6%, respectively. The histopathological effects of A. monosperma treatment on the midgut of Spodoptera littoralis revealed that the epithelium membrane was exfoliated and completely destroyed. Meanwhile, epithelia cells were strongly vacuolated and considerably elongated. Boundary lines between the cells disappeared.