Abstract
Synthetic pesticides are usually environmentally hazardous. In an attempt to obtain an eco-friendly alternative to synthetic nematicidal agents, isovitexin, a flavonoid glycoside isolated from butanol fraction of the leaf extract of Kigelia pinnata was examined for its in vitro nematicidal potential. The chemical structure of the isovitexin was confirmed by comparing its UV, IR, MS and NMR spectroscopic data with that reported in literature. The compound induced a hundred percent mortality at 24 h of exposure and inhibited egg hatch of Meloidogyne incognita at a concentration of 0.16 mg/mL. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) in the action of isovitexin and the synthetic nematicide, oxamyl, when tested at the same concentration. The bioactivity and toxicity evaluation on ‘molinspiration’ and ‘toxpredict’ evaluators indicated that isovitexin is a potentially bioactive compound with low genotoxic carcinogenicity and high enzyme inhibition activity. The biodegradability evaluation indicated that it belongs to a class 2 persistent chemical. The results of this study could be harnessed to make isovitexin commercially available as a natural nematicide. This is the first account of isovitexin being isolated from Kigelia pinnata and evaluated for nematicidal potential.
