Abstract

There is now an urgent necessity for finding out suitable substitutes for the foreign insecticides which are difficult to procure under the prevailing war conditions. Investigations were therefore started at the Agricultural Research Institute, Coimbatore, to determine whether any of the locally available plant poisons could effectively serve as insect killers. A few well-known poisonous plants like Thevetia neriifolia, Juss. (roots, stem bark; leaves and kernels), Nerium odorum Soland. (root, stem bark and leaves) Strychnos Nux-vomica L. (seeds) and Abrus precatorius L. (seeds) were tested. Of these only the kernels of Thevetia neriifolia Juss, were found to possess insecticidal values of a high order.

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