Control of the Invasive Agricultural Pest with a Novel Molluscicide: Efficacy and Safety to Nontarget Species.

The golden apple snail is an invasive pest that causes extensive damage to agricultural production. is also an intermediate host of , which causes human eosinophilic meningitis. In this study, the molluscicidal activity and safety profile of a novel molluscicide PBQ [1-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-(pyridin-3-yl)urea] were evaluated. PBQ exhibited strong molluscicidal potency against adult and juvenile snails (LC values of 0.39 and 0.07 mg/L, respectively). In field trials, PBQ killed 99.42% of the snails at 0.25 g a.i./m. An acute toxicity test in rats demonstrated that PBQ is a generally nonhazardous chemical. PBQ is also generally safe for nontarget organisms including , , and L. Transcriptomics analysis revealed that PBQ had a significant impact on the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism pathways, which provided insights into its molluscicidal mechanism. These results suggest that PBQ could be developed as an effective and safe molluscicide for control.