Abstract
As early as 1690 water extracts of tobacco leaves were used to control sucking insects on garden plants (for the history of nicotine see Shepard 1951; for the reviews see Yamamoto 1965; Schmeltz 1971). The usefulness of this preparation was due to its content of the nicotine alkaloid which is present in tobacco leaves. In addition to nicotine, two other closely related compounds, i.e., nornicotine and anabasine, also have some insecticidal activity (Fig. 13.1). These compounds act as nerve poisons in both insects and mammals, but there is a great deal of variation in susceptibility among different species. Nicotine is obtained from the plants Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica to the extent of 2-8%, but it also occurs in other plants. Nornicotine predominates in Nicotiana sylvestris and anabasine is extracted mainly from Anabasis aphylla.
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© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Perry, A.S., Yamamoto, I., Ishaaya, I., Perry, R. (1998). Botanical Insecticides. In: Insecticides in Agriculture and Environment. Applied Agriculture. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03656-3_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03656-3_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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