Chemical Characterization and Insecticidal Activity of Rubus coreanus Miquel Extracts (Leaves, Fruits and Stems) against Three Agricultural Insect Pests, Myzus persicae, Plutella xylostella and Spodoptera litura
In the growth of the Rubus coreanus Miquel fruits, the unripened (10 days) and ripened (25 days) fruits after flowering were harvested. The chemical characteristics of different maturational stages of the unripened and ripened fruits were investigated. Total amount of phenolic compounds was 4.00-7.56% in the unripened fruits and 3.78-5.57% in the ripened fruits, respectively. Furthermore, total amounts of organic acids such as malic, citric, succinic, and oxalic acids were 16.40 mg/ 100 g in the unripened fruits and 28.82 mg/100 g in the ripened fruits, respectively. In organic acids of the unripened and the ripened fruits, citric acid (8.76-15.47 mg/100 g) was the highest amount among other organic acids. Soluble sugars were significantly increased from 11.07 to 21.54% in the unripened and ripened fruits. Therefore, ripened fruits had the high levels of phenolic compounds, organic acids and soluble sugars. For the biological studies of R. coreanus, methanol extracts of R. coreanus leaves, fruits, and stems were evaluated for their insecticidal activities against Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Plutella xylostella (Lepioptera: Plutellidae) and Spodoptera litura (Lepioptera: Noctuidae) by leaf dipping method. From these results, the extract of R. coreanus leaves revealed potent insecticidal activity against P. xylostella. However, the methanol extracts of R. coreanus fruits and stems had no any insecticidal activity against M. persicae, P. xylostella and S. litura. The R. coreanus leaves have promising potential as new insecticidal agent against P. xylostella.