Sodium titanate - Bacillus as a New Nanopesticide for Cotton Leaf-Worm

The cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is considered one of the most harmful and destructive pest, not only for cotton crop, but also for corn, peanuts, vegetables, Lucerne, clover, ornamentals, shade trees and other types of crops and plants. The farmers used traditional chemical pesticides such as organophosphates, pyrethroids and organochlorines but the excessive amounts of these pesticides led to a severe environmental pollution. Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria were used as an ecofriendly biopesticide against cotton leaf-worm, but the main disadvantage in using bacteria was its low killing activity of the pest. Nanomaterials especially titanium dioxide nanoparticles are recently used as a nanopesticide toward several pests. In this study sodium titanate in the form of nanotubes and its composites with Bacillus Thuringiensis were examined to be used as a novel nanopesticides to resist cotton leaf-worm. Different biological features were studied for 2nd and 4th instars larvae such as adult longevity, adult sex ratio, pupation, fecundity and percent of eggs hatching (hatchability). All samples were characterized using Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR-spectroscopy and Zetasizer for zeta potential measurements.