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Article

Using Smoke Condensed Liquids from Pruned Fruit-Tree Branches for Aedes Mosquito Larva Control

by
Dun-Sheng Yang
1,
Meng-Wei Shen
1 and
Shyi-Tien Chen
2,*
1
Ph.D. Program in Engineering Science and Technology, College of Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 82445, Taiwan
2
Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, No. 1 University Road, Yanchao District, Kaohsiung City 82445, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Agriculture 2022, 12(6), 825; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12060825
Submission received: 28 April 2022 / Revised: 3 June 2022 / Accepted: 6 June 2022 / Published: 8 June 2022
(This article belongs to the Section Crop Protection, Diseases, Pests and Weeds)
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Versions Notes

Abstract

:
Some mosquitos are disease-causing vectors. Their widespread existence poses a great threat to disease control worldwide. Finding an effective, low-cost solution for mosquito population control is desperately needed. Pruned branches from three fruit trees of date, pomelo, and guava were chopped, dried, and smoldered to form biochar and smoke. The smoke was condensed at 6 °C to form a smoke condensed liquid (SCL) to be used as a larvicide for mosquito larva control. The SCL had a smoky smell, minimal nutrients, and little metal contents, yet contained plenty of phenolic molecules commonly used as biocides. Via bacterial inhibition zone tests, ten percent of the date, pomelo, and guava SCLs had 1.44, 1.13, and 0.83 times higher bactericidal effects, respectively, than the use of 75% ethanol. The effectiveness of bacterial inhibition was positively related to the amounts of volatile compounds in the SCL liquids. As for larvicidal effects, a ten percent solution of the date and pomelo SCLs killed all tested larvae within 2 hrs. The reactive time versus each SCL’s LC50 was determined and fitted with a first-order mathematic model. The adopted model and its estimated parameters showed satisfactory results in presenting the dose–effect relationships in larval mortality of all the tested SCLs. Finally, the liquid pHs and dissolved oxygen (DO) over time were examined for their effectiveness and variation, respectively, and the SCL addition was concluded as the sole key factor in the mortality of the tested larvae.

Graphical Abstract

1. Introduction

Mosquitos are annoying, yet a disease-carrying mosquito could be deadly. People in Southeast Asia and many other places have suffered from mosquito-borne diseases for a long time. Dengue fever in Kaohsiung City in Taiwan caused by Aedes mosquitoes is a good example. With distinctive black and white bands on their bodies and legs, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are known for transmitting several diseases in tropical and subtropical regions [1]. Several methods have been adopted to control these dangerous pathogen carriers, among which whole or part of the plant’s extracts or essential oils [2,3,4,5,6,7,8] are commonly studied and have received various degrees of success. LC50 values of the most studied plants in 24 h ranged from tens to thousands of parts per million of their extracts or essential oils [2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Carlina oxide from Carlina acaulis root at LC50 of 1.25 mg/L was considered the most potent mosquito larvicide extracted from plants so far [9]. Among the studied plants, some are used as food or medicine [10,11,12,13,14,15], some are rare or costly to collect [16,17,18,19,20], and some use solvents to manufacture plant extracts or essential oils. These mosquito repellent alternatives may worsen food shortages or be considered environmentally unfriendly operations. Other methods such as the use of general or gene-targeting chemicals [21,22,23,24,25], bacteria or fungi [26,27,28], AB toxins [29,30,31], and composite nanoparticles [32,33,34] were also reported; however, their effective uses on a large scale have not yet been reported and could be economically inapplicable.
Kaohsiung City in Taiwan, a tropical city in Southeast Asia, grows well-known fruits such as date, pomelo, and guava; however, the city also suffers from Aedes mosquito-related diseases, namely dengue fever and chikungunya. For fruit planting, trimming the fruit-tree branches is necessary for high yields and is accomplished in a timely fashion around the year. The massive, pruned branches were burned in the open field to provide extra nutrients to the farmland, and some were burned around residential areas to generate smoke to repel mosquitos. Burning branches in the open field is banned now for air pollution control, and since then, the fruit growers often encounter difficulties disposing of those pruned branches with sharp thorns.
This ancient methodology in repelling mosquitoes using smoke inspires the use of smoke condensed liquid (SCL) to control the disease-causing mosquito larvae. A series of studies supported by local governments and organizations are planning to resolve the problems of both the pruned branches and the control of the mosquito population, especially the Aedes mosquitos. This study aimed to treat the fruit-tree branches in a combustion chamber to form biochar and SCL. The former was to be used as a farming soil conditioner (data not shown here), and the latter as a bactericide as well as a mosquito larvicide. The goal of this study was to manufacture the SCLs of three pruned branches from date, pomelo, and guava trees, to analyze the ingredients of each SCL, and to study the SCLs’ bactericidal and mosquito larvicidal effects. Furthermore, the basic characteristics of each SCL, potential ingredient changes over time and different temperatures, and the relation between the SCL’s lethal effect, and its compound abundance were also to be revealed. Finally, the estimated LC50 at various SCL concentrations were to be realized.

2. Materials and Methods

Three fruit-tree branches of date, pomelo, and guava (i.e., local planted variants of Ziziphus jujube, Citrus grandis, and Psidium guajava, respectively) were collected and air-dried for later uses. Each of the three fruit-tree branches was pretreated and smoldered to obtain SCL for further tests, including the SCL characteristics, change of SCL abundance over time, bactericidal and larvicidal effects, and the effects of pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) in the liquid. Their related operational procedures are given as follows.

2.1. Preparations of Mosquito Larvae and Fruit-Tree Branches

Wild, not laboratory-bred, mosquito larvae were collected and tested. The tested Aedes mosquito larvae were collected from purposely allocated water buckets in their wild urban habitats at around a neutral pH and an ambient temperature around 25–30 °C. To mimic the real larval growth conditions, no substrate or man-made interferences were given during the larval breeding and collecting period. Collected mosquito larvae and some reared adults during the tests were compared with [1] website information and confirmed by visual and were proved to be the Aedes mosquitos. All tested larvae at various instars were collected on the same day when tests were conducted and were distributed randomly into a specimen containing twenty larvae each. Furthermore, three kinds of fruit-tree branches were collected from local farmers during fruit tree trimming seasons. The obtained branches were chopped into less than 2 cm chips and air-dried before being smoldered. The size and air-dry feature of the chips allowed the completeness of the chip smoldering process after its initial ignition.

2.2. Smoldering Reactor Design and Operation

The reactor was equipped with a one-liter chamber for wood chip smoldering and a smoke condensation process driven by a vacuum pump at a flow of 5 L per minute (Figure 1). A water-cooling system was operated at 6 °C once smoke was produced. During each smoldering, 500 g of air-dried wood chips was placed in the reactor and ignited on top till their completeness. The whole smoldering process to obtain biochar and SCL lasted around 90 min with a temperature of around 300–400 °C. The collected SCL was deemed to be 100% SCL and was diluted to certain concentrations for use in the tests.

2.3. Analysis of SCL Ingredients

SCL was extracted by hexane at sample/hexane (v/v) = 1.0. SCL ingredients in hexane were analyzed by a GC-MS device (GC-2010 Plus GCMS-QP2020, SHIMADZU CORPORATION, Kyoto, Japan) equipped with an Rtx-5MS capillary column from Restek™ (Bellefonte, PA, USA), and the content of each compound was reported as “abundance”. Metal analyses were achieved by ICP (Ultima Expert LT HORIBA JY, Kyoto, Japan) analysis. Total nitrogen (TN) was determined via element analysis by a UNICUBE elementar® device (Hesse, Germany). The inhibition zone test was guided by the disk diffusion technique. Other measurements such as total phosphate (TP), organic content, pH, and moisture followed the standard methods [34].

2.4. Bactericidal Tests

Various percentages (i.e., 2.5–10%) of each SCL with respect to the 75 and 95% ethanol as controls were examined for their bactericidal effects via the inhibition zone tests. The tested bacterial culture was obtained by collecting 10 mL of local pond water as a seed that was cultured with 250 mL LB broth in an incubator and gently mixed at 150 rpm, 37 °C for four days before use. At that time, the bacteria was at the beginning of its stationary phase. The LB broth was obtained by mixing a total of 6.25 g of the Difco™ LB Broth, Miller powder with 250 mL of distilled and deionized water. After one day of inoculation, the heterotrophic plate count was determined at 5.6 × 109 ± 5.0 × 107 CFU/mL by the NIEA E203.56B method developed [35]. The inhibitory zone test, also known as the Kirby–Bauer Test, was conducted following the American Society of Microbiology protocol [36]. By averaging the shortest and largest diameters of the zone, the zone area was calculated and compared as necessary.

2.5. Change of Abundance over Time (Preservation of the SCL)

To examine the volatilization effect on each SCL, ten percent of the SCL was sealed in an amber bottle and treated at different temperatures (i.e., 4–80 °C) and various timespans (30 min–180 days) to mimic the possible sample preservation settings. At each designated time, the sample was sacrificed, and the ingredient abundances and bacterial inhibition zone areas were measured via the GC-MS and inhibition zone tests, respectively, so that the relations between SCL abundance and time, and larval survival rate and time were to be realized.

2.6. Larvicidal Test

To study the relations between the larval mortality and SCL dosage, each specimen was filled with 10 mL of 0–10% (v/v) SCL before a total of twenty larvae were randomly selected and put in each specimen at an ambient temperature. Water from the larva breeding bucket is used to adjust the needed SCL contents to avoid unnecessary interferences. During the testing period, no additional substrate (food) was given. The survival rate of the larvae in each specimen was recorded at time intervals from 0 to 144 h. The blank run (i.e., 0% of the SCL) served as control to monitor the possible unexpected factors that might influence larval development. Survived adults were checked to ensure their Aedes identity.

2.7. Estimated Larva’s LC50 at a Certain Treatment Time

As mentioned above, larval survival rates at various SCL concentrations (i.e., 0–10%) over time (i.e., up to 144 h) were used to determine the estimated LC50 at various times. A first-order mathematic model was employed to elucidate the relationship between the estimated LC50 and the time required (briefed as Time_LC50 below) to reach a 50% death of the test larvae. The model was expressed as Time_LC50 = T0e−kC, where To is the time required to kill half larvae at SCL concentration equal to zero, k the rate constant, and C the value of the estimated LC50.

2.8. Effects of pH and Dissolved Oxygen (DO)

To examine the pH effect, ten percent of each SCL was prepared with pH adjusted at around 3, 7, and 11 to conduct the larvicidal test. Due to the acidic nature of the SCL, the initial pH of the system was around 3. Thus, a 0.1 M NaOH solution was used for adjusting the pH. Due to the DO depletion could become stress of larval mortality, thus, at pH 3, the DO of each SCL run was measured over 180 min to monitor its changes.

2.9. Data Quality

All measurements were analyzed at least three times unless mentioned otherwise. Mean values and standard deviations of each measurement were given. To trace the data precision, the percent relative standard deviation (%RSD) of repeated data was calculated and checked. For the clarity of the presented data, some reported figures contain only the mean values of the triplicated measurements and some with the upper/lower limits of its standard deviations. As for modeling fitting, the least sum of squares was adopted to determine the best model fits. A normal plot was also provided to demonstrate the proper fits of the adopted model.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. SCL Properties

By smoldering the chopped fruit-tree branches, the properties of all three SCLs, made from date, pomelo, and guava, are given in Table 1. Most SCL liquid was water (more than ~99%) with organic contents around 0.2–1.1% by weight. The pHs of all three SCL were below 3 indicating their acidic nature. As for elemental contents, the potassium contents of the SCLs ranged from 1.8 to 4.3 mg/L with trivial amounts of phosphate and nitrogen, showing their minimal nutritious values. No other metals except potassium were detected with a detection limit of 0.2 mg/L. Quite contrarily, the GC-MS spectrum of the individual SCL was rather complicated. As showed in Table 2, total GC-MS abundances of the date, pomelo, and guava SCLs equaled to 44.8 × 106, 40.0 × 106, and 19.5 × 106, respectively. Due to the complexity of the SCL spectra, there were thirteen major compounds with high abundances of the SCL’s GC-MS spectra further traced and compared. Their summarized SCL abundances were given in the following order (large to small) date, pomelo, then guava, and their percent abundances of their total were around 69, 62, and 82%, respectively. The results also showed that the abundances of the major compounds from each of the three SCLs appeared to follow the same order of the total abundances. However, some exceptions existed. A compound like 2(5H)-Furanone showed in pomelo and guava SCLs did not appear in the date SCL. Meanwhile, the abundance of phenolic compounds in each SCL had a significant amount. Percent phenolic abundances of the date, pomelo, and guava SCLs were around 36, 32, and 46% of their total, respectively. It has been well noticed that phenolic compounds had anti-septic functions; however, the use of the SCL as a mosquito larvicide has not yet been reported and is to be further revealed below.

3.2. SCL Bactericidal Effect

Figure 2 showed the bacterial inhibition zone areas when 75 and 95% ethanol solutions and three SCLs at various concentrations were applied. The 75% ethanol is commonly used as a bactericide in hand sanitation and had inhibition zone areas of 355 mm2 in this study. As for the bactericidal effect of the SCLs, the results showed that when the SCL content was less than 2.5% no bactericidal effects were observed; however, when 10% (by volume) of the date and pomelo SCLs were applied, their bactericidal effects were 1.44 and 1.13 times higher, respectively, than the 75% ethanol run, yet 10% Guava SCL showed less bactericidal effect than the 75% ethanol. These results demonstrated that the higher the SCL concentration, the greater the bactericidal effects. To further depict the relationship between the SCL content and its bactericidal effect, abundances of ten percent of the three SCLs treated at various temperatures and timespans are given in Figure 3A. Each SCL treated at 80 °C for 30 min was deemed to be a means to allow most of its volatile compounds to escape from the SCL. By doing so, the results indicated that at 80 °C the abundances of the thirteen major compounds dropped 25, 32, and 32% for the date, pomelo, and guava SCLs, respectively. In the meantime, the inhibition zone areas of the 10% date, pomelo, and guava SCLs dropped 28, 41, and 51%, respectively, as shown in Figure 3B. These results again demonstrated that the bactericidal effect was most likely proportional to the content of the SCL. Moreover, plots of inhibition zone areas versus SCL abundances of the three SCLs are given in Figure 4. Straight-line relationships between the SCL abundances and the zone areas were obvious with regression R2 values ranging from 0.93 to 0.99. The results also concluded that the content of SCL was positively proportional to its bactericidal potency and could serve as an indicator of the SCL bactericidal effectiveness. Although the reduction of SCL abundance could affect its bactericidal effectiveness, however, the results in Figure 3A,B indicated a relatively slow escaping rate of compounds from SCL at ambient temperature in six months. For example, around 15.4% of the major compounds in the 10% date SCL escaped in six months, and its bactericidal effectiveness dropped by about 16.6%. To preserve SCL, a few months of storage in ambient conditions appeared feasible. Figure 5 showed a detailed loss of each major compound in the three SCLs at various treatment temperatures and timespans. Compounds that had greater abundances, such as 2-methyl-phenol and 2,6-dimethoxy-phenol, appeared to have greater losses during the preservation period. As mentioned above, it would take a long period of time before a substantial reduction of a certain compound in an SCL solution.

3.3. SCL Larvicide Effect

Plots of larval survival rates over 144 h at various SCL concentrations ranging from 0 to 10% are given in Figure 6A–C for the date, pomelo, and guava cases, respectively. The results indicated that no larvae mortality was observed at Blank runs over the entire testing period, and the higher the SCL doses the fewer larvae survived at certain timespans. The dose–effect relations between each SCL content and the larvicidal effect were obvious. At a fixed SCL concentration, the larvae survival rate decreased as time went on. Similarly, as the SCL concentration increased, the drop in larvae survival rate accelerated. In comparison, the guava SCL showed a less larvicidal effect than the date and pomelo SCLs, which appeared due to fewer compound abundances in the guava SCL than the other two (see Table 2). To summarize the larvicidal effectiveness of the three SCLs, Figure 7A,B showed the time needed for killing 100 and 50% of larvae at various SCLs’ concentrations. As shown in Figure 7A, killing all the tested larvae using 10% of date, pomelo, and guava SCLs took about 2, 3, and 50 h, respectively. Guava SCL showed less larvicidal effectiveness than the other two. On the other hand, the date and pomelo larvicidal effects were mixed at different concentration cases. At high concentrations, the date SCL appeared to take less time in killing all tested larvae, yet at low concentrations (i.e., at 0.625%), the pomelo SCL appeared a quicker larvicide to use. Figure 7B showed similar results that guava SCL was less potent in killing 50% of the tested larvae than the date and pomelo SCLs. Although pomelo SCL showed a shorter 50% larval killing time at less than 1.25% of the SCL, however, at high concentrations (i.e., greater than 2.5%), both pomelo and date SCLs had similar performance. The 50% larval killing time (Time_LC50) versus the estimated LC50 (C) was concluded via a first-order mathematic model of Time_LC50 = T0e−kC as in the Materials and Methods section. The fitting results are given in Figure 8(A1–A3) and Figure 8(B1–B3) for the fitted curves and normal plots of the three SCLs. A decent fit with the linear normal plots indicated the adequacy of the adopted model. The obtained model parameter values in Figure 8(A1–A3) showed similar conclusions obtained as in Figure 7B. Both the collected larvicidal data and the adopted model demonstrated the dose–effect relationship between the SCL and larval mortality.

3.4. Other Factors of Larvicidal Effects

To evaluate the larvicidal effect of liquid pH, Figure 9A showed that at neutral pH the tested larvae had zero mortality if no SCL was present. Even some larvicidal effects were observed at both low and high pH runs (i.e., pH = 3 and 11, respectively), yet a hundred percent larval mortality did not reach till 170 h later. Quite contrarily, with 10% of the SCL, the larvicidal effects were greatly enhanced, whereas the tested larvae were 100% killed within several hours. Quantitatively speaking, at pH = 3, 7, and 11, the 100% larval mortality time took around 1–3, 2–7, and 1–4 h, respectively, if 10% of individual SCL was applied for all three SCLs. The date SCL remained having the greatest larvicidal effects, and the guava SCL the least. These results coincided with the SCL bactericidal results given in Figure 4. To check the DO level of the SCL liquid over time, Figure 10 showed the variation of DO in the 10% SCL liquids for 180 min. The results indicated little DO variation after spiking the SCL during the tests. Since the bactericidal and larvicidal effects of the SCL took place within hours, minimal biological oxygen consumption in the SCL solution seemed reasonable.
Based on the data collected in this study, the contents of the three SCLs appear simple and have minimal environmental harmful effects except for their acidic nature and the existence of the organic substances. The acidic nature of SCL enhances its potency to bacteria and mosquito larvae. The spread of SCL substances might be worrisome yet burning biomass has been done for long and is not likely an acute threat to humans and the environment, especially when the process is done within a confined system and its ingredients are fully revealed. As for its advantageous uses, minimal metal contents and trivial amounts of nutrients implied its safe use without environmental contamination. The use of liquid, not smoke, limits the spread of particulate matter. In addition, control of mosquitos at its ease of production and fewer costs might have encouraged its use in some areas where simple and cheap alternatives are desperately needed.
Even though results suggested the potential use of SCL in mosquito control, several considerations deserved further discussion. Firstly, although this study showed that 10% of the date SCL could kill 100% of mosquito larvae in 2 h, due to the mosquito (i.e., Aedes aegypti) larval stage lasting up to around 10 days, the use of a lower SCL concentration is probably feasible. For example, the use of 1.25% date and pomelo SCLs in this study could kill all larva in 53 h, and if it is sufficient for the larval control, would greatly reduce the use of SCL in the environment. Secondly, the data suggested that different kinds of biomass might produce SCL at various abundances of ingredients. Thus, the larvicidal effect of an SCL becomes uncertain. Luckily, since the larvicidal effect is proportional to the abundance of its ingredients so the abundance data in this study could be used as a reference for preparing a newly manufactured SCL. Thirdly, the use of SCL could be considered a cradle-to-cradle operation in agricultural land uses. The SCL originates from the trimmed branches and is used on and would eventually be returned to the adjacent farmland, which avoids the use of manufactured chemicals and is considered a green farming alternative. Finally, it does not escape our attention that many areas around the globe are urgently demanding some means to control the mosquito population. The wide use of SCL is feasible due to its economical and easily accessible features. These discussed points deserve further investigation soon.

4. Conclusions

Several conclusions based on the results of this study are listed as follows:
(1)
The SCL generated from the three fruit-tree branches appeared to be acidic, free of heavy metals, and consisted of complex yet mostly similar organo-compounds.
(2)
The abundance of the SCL compounds was in the order (large to small) of date, pomelo, and guava SCLs. The greater abundance of the SCL liquid, the greater the bactericidal effect. At ten percent of the date and pomelo SCLs, 1.44 and 1.13 times (compared with the 75% ethanol) bactericidal efficiencies resulted, respectively.
(3)
A highly positive correlation existed between the SCL abundance and its bactericidal effect. At extreme volatilization conditions (i.e., heated at 80 °C for 30 min), around a 30% loss of bactericidal effectiveness was observed in the 10% date SLC case. At ambient temperature, the date and pomelo abundances lost less than 20% in 180 days, which indicated the possibility of long-term preservation.
(4)
The larvicidal effect was positively proportional to the amount of the SCL used as well. At 10% of the SCL, all of the tested larvae were killed in 2–3 h while using the date and pomelo SCLs. A first-order mathematic model showed satisfaction in describing the relationship of time required to reach 50% of larval mortality and the content of SCL.
(5)
A first-order mathematic model with known parameters was able to predict the time and SCL concentration required to reach a 50% larval mortality. The dose–effect relationship between SCL concentration and larval mortality was obvious.
(6)
High or low liquid pHs enhanced the larvicidal effect of the SCL; however, the abundance of the SCL was a more dominant factor in mosquito larval mortality. In addition, liquid DO barely changed when 10% of the SCL was spiked.
It has been a major concern that the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases happens quite frequently in the low-income regions, where people are used to cooking by burning local biomass as a fuel. As mentioned previously, the smoldering of wasted agricultural biomass can generate biochar and SCL and could be used as a soil conditioner and a larvicide, respectively. Several benefits are likely to happen through such an operation. Firstly, massive, wasted biomass can be treated and their energy recovered as fuel for cooking [37,38]. Secondly, the generated biochar can be used in agricultural planting, and the smoke can be condensed to form SCL without further air pollution. Finally, the generated SCL can be used to resolve the mosquito problems at much lower costs [39] as compared to the use of man-made chemicals. Most importantly, by doing so, the pruned fruit-tree branches can be turned into materials for agricultural and disease prevention uses, which can be considered a sustainable operation not only in agriculture but also in many waste recycling and reuse fronts.

Author Contributions

Investigation and formal analysis by D.-S.Y., data curation by M.-W.S., and conceptualization and funding acquisition by S.-T.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology and Eggshell Biotech Inc. (Project number: MOST 108-2745-8-992-007).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data is contained within the article.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Agriculture 12 00825 g001 550
Figure 1. Design and operating conditions of the fruit tree smoldering device.
Figure 1. Design and operating conditions of the fruit tree smoldering device.
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Agriculture 12 00825 g002 550
Figure 2. Size of inhibition zone due to the presence of each inhibitory reagent at various concentrations (ethanol dose at 95 and 75%; each SCL dose at 2.5, 5, and 10%). The dashed line indicated the inhibition zone area caused by 75% ethanol.
Figure 2. Size of inhibition zone due to the presence of each inhibitory reagent at various concentrations (ethanol dose at 95 and 75%; each SCL dose at 2.5, 5, and 10%). The dashed line indicated the inhibition zone area caused by 75% ethanol.
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Agriculture 12 00825 g003 550
Figure 3. Plots of abundances (A) and inhibition zone areas (B) versus the three SCLs.
Figure 3. Plots of abundances (A) and inhibition zone areas (B) versus the three SCLs.
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Agriculture 12 00825 g004 550
Figure 4. Plot of inhibition zone area versus the abundance of the three SCLs treated at various conditions.
Figure 4. Plot of inhibition zone area versus the abundance of the three SCLs treated at various conditions.
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Agriculture 12 00825 g005 550
Figure 5. Plot of standardized abundances of the major ingredients in each SCLs: date (A), pomelo (B), and guava (C).
Figure 5. Plot of standardized abundances of the major ingredients in each SCLs: date (A), pomelo (B), and guava (C).
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Agriculture 12 00825 g006 550
Figure 6. Plots of larval survival rates overtime at various concentrations (i.e., 0.312–10%) of (A) date, (B) pomelo, and (C) guava SCLs. Each sample was triplicated with values = mean ± std. dev. (n = 3). For clarity, some data were given as mean values only.
Figure 6. Plots of larval survival rates overtime at various concentrations (i.e., 0.312–10%) of (A) date, (B) pomelo, and (C) guava SCLs. Each sample was triplicated with values = mean ± std. dev. (n = 3). For clarity, some data were given as mean values only.
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Figure 7. Plots of completely larvae mortality time (A) and a half larvae mortality time (B) versus the estimated LC50.
Figure 7. Plots of completely larvae mortality time (A) and a half larvae mortality time (B) versus the estimated LC50.
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Figure 8. Plots of time a half of larva mortality versus the estimated LC50 (A1–A3) and residual Normal plots (B1–B3) for SCLs of date, pomelo, and guava, respectively.
Figure 8. Plots of time a half of larva mortality versus the estimated LC50 (A1–A3) and residual Normal plots (B1–B3) for SCLs of date, pomelo, and guava, respectively.
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Figure 9. Larval survival rates at various pHs in 10% of the three SCLs.
Figure 9. Larval survival rates at various pHs in 10% of the three SCLs.
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Figure 10. Plot of residual DOs in the liquid applied with various SCLs after 0–180 min. DDW was also applied and served as the control run.
Figure 10. Plot of residual DOs in the liquid applied with various SCLs after 0–180 min. DDW was also applied and served as the control run.
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Table
Table 1. Properties of three fruit-tree SCLs. Value = Mean ± Std. dev. (n = 3).
Table 1. Properties of three fruit-tree SCLs. Value = Mean ± Std. dev. (n = 3).
Sample TypespHTN (%)TP (mg/L)K (mg/L)Moisture (%)Organic Portion (%)Fix Portion (%)
SCL_date2.9 ± 0.15<0.01<0.24.3 ± 0.598.9 ± 0.21.1 ± 0.10.01 ± 0.006
SCL_pomelo2.6 ± 0.18<0.01<0.22.3 ± 0.699.4 ± 0.20.6 ± 0.10.01 ± 0.006
SCL_guava2.6 ± 0.13<0.01<0.21.8 ± 0.299.8 ± 0.20.2 ± 0.10.00 ± 0.000
Note: Metals including Zn, Pb, Bi, B, Mn, Fe, Mg, In, Al, Cu, Ca, Sr, Ba, Na, Se, Ni, Co, Cd, Cr, Ga, Ag, and Li were all below detection limit of 0.2 mg/L.
Table
Table 2. Major ingredients of the three SCLs.
Table 2. Major ingredients of the three SCLs.
Eluted Time (min)Standardized SCL Abundance @ and Percent of Total in ParenthesisCompounds/Remarks
DatePomeloGuava
4.3671,803,840 (4.0)1,695,168 (4.2)-Pyrazole, 1,4-dimethyl-
7.448-1,077,328 (2.7)823,903 (4.2)2(5H)-Furanone
9.233390,152 (0.9)--Phenol
10.2742,270,628 (5.1)2,027,954 (5.1)1,359,437 (7.0)1,2-Cyclopentanedione, 3-methyl-
11.2271,346,975 (3.0)--Phenol, 3-methyl-
11.4685,047,432 (11.2)4,907,177 (12.3)2,671,629 (13.7)Phenol, 2-methoxy-
12.0441,368,125 (3.0)571,430 (1.4)921,379 (4.7)Maltol
13.3941,855,644 (4.1)1,600,951 (4.0)1,203,184 (6.2)Creosol
13.5724,318,762 (9.6)3,347,830 (8.4)1,310,554 (6.7)Catechol
14.5713,140,422 (7.0)2,525,284 (6.3)1,340,465 (6.9)1,2-Benzenediol, 3-methoxy-
14.8061,597,987 (3.6)1,244,550 (3.1)544,757 (2.8)Phenol, 4-ethyl-2-methoxy-
15.9477,201,005 (16.0)5,289,310 (13.2)5,735,301 (29.4)Phenol, 2,6-dimethoxy-
19.483600,658 (1.3)327,768 (0.8)-Phenol, 2,6-dimethoxy-4-(2-propenyl)-
Abundance of major compounds (% of total)30,941,630(68.9%)24,614,750 (61.6%)15,910,610 (81.6%)The abundance of major ingredients (Percent of the major ingredients with respect to the total)
Abundance of phenolics (% of total)16,184,210 (36.1%)12,838,647 (32.1%)8,951,687 (45.9%)The abundance of phenolic ingredients (Percent of the major ingredients with respect to the total)
Total abundance44,881,227 (100)39,970,517 (100)19,503,967 (100)Total abundance = total ions of the GC-MS chromatogram
@ Abundance of each compound was standardized by the abundance of an internal standard, 3,4,5-tribromophenol.
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Yang, D.-S.; Shen, M.-W.; Chen, S.-T. Using Smoke Condensed Liquids from Pruned Fruit-Tree Branches for Aedes Mosquito Larva Control. Agriculture 2022, 12, 825. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12060825

AMA Style

Yang D-S, Shen M-W, Chen S-T. Using Smoke Condensed Liquids from Pruned Fruit-Tree Branches for Aedes Mosquito Larva Control. Agriculture. 2022; 12(6):825. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12060825

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Yang, Dun-Sheng, Meng-Wei Shen, and Shyi-Tien Chen. 2022. "Using Smoke Condensed Liquids from Pruned Fruit-Tree Branches for Aedes Mosquito Larva Control" Agriculture 12, no. 6: 825. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12060825

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