Enhanced Insecticidal Activity of Thiamethoxam by Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles: A Novel Nanotechnology Approach for Pest Control

[Image: see text] Indiscriminate and unregulated application of pesticides produces deleterious effect in various groups of organisms including humans and the environment. To solve these issues, it has been reported that the residue-free green nanocomposite synergistically enhances the pesticide efficacy. In this study, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with a thiamethoxam nanocomposite were synthesized and we investigated their synergistic effect on 4th instar larvae of Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). These larvae were allowed to feed on the composite of ZnO NPs with thiamethoxam (10–90 mg/L) and thiamethoxam-impregnated castor leaves. Observations showed an increased larval mortality (27% increased mortality), a malformation in pupae and adults, overdue emergence, and reduced fecundity and fertility. A significant dose-dependent variation in the biochemical parameters such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) in the treated larvae was also observed. A decline of 72.42 and 33.82% in SOD and GST activity ,respectively, was observed at higher concentration as compared to the control. On the contrary, it enhanced the TBARS level up to 56.7%. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by different biophysical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (average crystalline size 34 nm), scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (average particle size 30 nm), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (Zn–O stretching peaks at 432 cm(–1) and 503 cm(–1)). The observation of the present study suggests that ZnO NPs pave the way for developing cost-effective, eco-friendly, and capable nanomaterial for its applications in the field of biological sciences.