RELATIVE TOXICITY OF SOME NANOPESTICIDES AND THEIR CONVENTIONAL FORMULATIONS AGAINST THE GLOSSY CLOVER SNAILS, Monacha cartusiana

Three common pesticides with different pesticide groups were used in this work. These pesticides include; chlorfenapyr (pyrroles group), imidacloprid (neonicotinoids group) and flonicamid (pyridinecarboxamide group). Two types of formulations of these pesticides were used; conventional and nanoformulations against the adults of glossy clover snails, Monacha cartusiana under laboratory conditions. The nanoparticle size of the tested pesticides was measured under a scan electronic microscope (SEM). The size of these nanoparticles was ranged between 241 to 652 nm. The loading capacity of the tested pesticides was 65.3 ± 6.4, 62.8 ± 5.3 and 68.4 ± 3.5 % for chlorfenapyr, imidacloprid and flonicamid, respectively. The obtained results showed that the nanoformulations were more effective than the conventional formulations against M. cartusiana adults, despite of the concentrations of the nanoformulations were one-fifth of the normal ones. Chlorfenapyr was the most effective in both types of formulations (Nano or normal formulation) followed by imidacloprid and flonicamid. The LC50,s were 52.6, 73.9 and 84.7 ppm; and 12.6, 14.6 and 21.4 in both normal and nanoformulations, respectively. These results observed that these pesticides not only toxic against M. cartusiana but also have antifeedant effect and therefore decrease feeding consumption. These results cleared that it's possible to use the pesticide nanoformulations to decrease the environmental pesticide contamination and the cost of application and also increase the efficacy of pesticides against the target pest.