Natural product of wild Zingiberaceae Elettariopsis slahmong: biopesticide to control the vector of banana blood disease bacterium in West Sumatera, Indonesia.

Banana is one of the most important food crops in Indonesia. Its production is greater than any other agricultural commodity. With the population of 230 million in 2010, banana was consumed up to three million tons in this country. However, Banana Blood Disease Bacterium (BDB), one of the most devastating banana pathogens in the world, which is only found in Indonesia, threatens not only the growth of this plant but also the lives and the livelihoods for most of the Indonesian society. BDB is caused by a lethal bacteria, Ralstonia solanacearum Phylotype-4, which infects a wide range of bananas, from bananas used for consumption to wild bananas. In West Sumatera, the disease killed 1.40% of bananas in 1998, and then increased dramatically to 37.9% in 2003. The total banana production dropped to 62% in this province. The search for controlling the vector has led to the pre-investigation of Wild Zingiberaceae Elettariopsis slahmong C.K. Lim which has a stink bug odour similar to a methidathion insecticide. The plant was collected around the conservation area of Lembah Anal in West Sumatra. The goal of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of natural insecticides compound contained in E. slahmong against D. melanogaster. This study tested the effect of E. slahmong on the mortality, anti-feedant and repellent levels against Drosophila melanogaster, the vector of BDB. The essential oil of E. slahmong was obtained by steam distillation of fresh rhizomes, pseudo stems and leaves. We found that the extract of E. slahmong significantly affected the mortality of D. melanogaster of 30-40% and also acted as an antifeedant (with success rate of 73-93%) and repellent (with success rate of 99-99.6%). The long- term objective of this study is to develop green biopesticide to control BDB in Indonesia, based on an environmentally friendly pest management.