Piperonyl Butoxide Enhances the Insecticidal Toxicity of Nanoformulation of Imidacloprid on (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquito.

The use of conventional pesticides becomes a complicated issue as more species of insect pests become resistant to them. Nanopesticides suit new approaches in pest control. Herein, we tested the toxicological efficacy of imidacloprid compared with three of its nanoformulations (IMD01, IMD02, and IMD03) on second and fourth instar of larvae. Furthermore, we assessed the synergistic actions of piperonyl butoxide (PBO) on imidacloprid and its nanoformulations against second and fourth instar of . The nanoformulation (IMD03) was the most potent insecticide (LC = 14, 6, and 2 ng/mL after 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure, respectively), whereas the lowest toxic nanoformulation was IMD01. However, imidacloprid had the lowest toxicity among the tested compounds (LC = 1015, 705, and 621 ng/mL after 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure, respectively). PBO significantly synergized imidacloprid and its nanoformulations. However, the most synergistic effects were on IMD03 and the lowest was imidacloprid itself. Based on our results, nanopesticides are currently the most promising tool to control mosquitoes. However, further semifield and field studies should be done to illustrate the efficacy of imidacloprid and its nanoformulations on mosquitoes.