Phytochemical Characterization and Insecticidal Property of Jatropha Plant

Phytochemical analysis on the pulverized leaf sample of Jatropha curcas as well as the insecticidal activity of the ethanolic leaf extract on Callosobruchus maculatus was carried out. The study investigated the mortality rate as a result of treatment of grains with the leaf extract at different dilutions of 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100mg/ml. These were tested against C. maculatus by treating 20g of bean sample with the extract and then infesting each in a plastic container with 20 adults of the insect and the untreated grains were used as the control. The plant extract resulted in a significant increase (P<0.001) in adult mortality at the end of 96 hours but there was no significance difference (P=0.084) after 24 hours. The result had a general dose-response characteristic. There was also significant variation in the phytochemical composition of the plant leaf. Compared to other phytochemicals, the concentration of saponin and tannin were higher in the plant leaf.