ARTICLE
TITLE

Unusually versatile plant genus Azadirachta with many useful and so far incompletely exploited properties for agriculture, medicine and industry

SUMMARY

Azadirachta indica (Indian Neem), A. siamensis (Thai Neem) and A. excelsa (Marrango, Philippinean/Malaysian Neem) belong to the Mahogany family and are endemic to the Indian subcontinent, with subsequent anthropogenic expansion to South-East Asia, but also into all tropical and subtropical areas of the globe. Traditional neem uses in stored product protection and medicine in India are well established for thousands of years. Recently, modern methods of analytical, organic and biochemistry could explain biochemical mechanisms of action. This was followed by greatly expanded insect management practices based on the useful properties of neem and neem oil. These natural products can serve as insect phago-deterrents and fitness reducing agents against pest insects, but also against bacterial, fungal and virus diseases of plants, domestic animals and humans. Neem products, in concert with pheromones, are the general agents of choice if all other control measures for various reasons fail.Keywords: Azadirachta spp., azadirachtin, IPM, marrango, neem, neem oilReferencesAHMED, S. (2002) Neem in sociocultural life in Southern Asia. In SCHMUTTERER, H. (ed., 2002A) loc cit. pp. 739-744BILTON, J. N. et al. (1987) An x-ray crystallographic, mass-spectroscopic, and NMR-study of the limonoid insect antifeedant azadirachtin and related derivatives. In Tetrahedron, vol. 43, pp. 2805-2815.BODE, E. & GUSKE S. (2005) Zulassung und Kommerzialisierung natürlicher Pflanzenschutzmittel. In SCHMUTTERER, H. & HUBER, J. (eds., 2005) loc cit. pp 236-249.BUTTERWORTH, J. H. & MORGAN, E. D. (1968) Isolation of a substance that suppresses feeding in locusts. In J. Chem. Commun., vol. 1, pp. 23-24.EPPLER, A., HINZ U. & RÖMER P. (1986) Virus diseases of Lupinus mutabilis Sweet in Germany. Med. Fac. Landbouww. Rijksuniv. Gent. vol. 51, no. 2B, pp.808-816.HEIN, D.F. & HUMMEL, H.E. (1998) The feeding deterrent and insect development modifier Azadirachtin A: Investigations of effects on Epilachna varivestis and Spodoptera littoralis. In SCHREIER P. et al. (eds.) Natural Products Analysis, Chromatography, Spectroscopy, Biological Testing. Würzburg, Germany. Vieweg, Braunschweig. pp 371-372.HEIN, D. F. (1999) Zur Biotechnik im Pflanzenschutz: Extraktion, Analytik und biologische Wirkungsweise ausgewählter Inhaltsstoffe von Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (Meliaceae). PhD Thesis, Fachbereich 09, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen. Fachverlag Köhler, Giessen. ISBN 3-922306-85-3, 252 pp.HEIN, D.F. & HUMMEL, H. E. (1999) Extraction of Azadirachta indica ingredients: Comparison of Soxhlet reflux extractor, tissue mixer, and accelerated solvent extraction (ASE 200). In Med. Fac. Landbouww. Univ. Gent. vol. 64, no. 3a, pp. 185-195.HELLPAP, C. & DREYER M. (2002) Neem products for integrated pest management, practical results of neem application against pests, and development of resistance. 4.1.1 The smallholder's homemade products. In SCHMUTTERER H. (ed., 2002A) loc cit. pp. 459-469.HELLPAP, C., FÖRSTER, P. & AHMED, S. (2002) Considerations on Neem's current use for pest management. In SCHMUTTERER H. (ed.) The Neem tree A. indica A. Juss. and Other Meliaceous Plants, pp.727-739HUMMEL, H. E. (1989A) Potential for vector control by Azadirachta indica (Neem) oil of Western corn rootworm beetles (Diabrotica virgifera: Chrysomelidae). In BOROVSKY, D. & SPIELMAN, A. (eds.) Host regulated developmental mechanisms in vector arthropods. Proceedings of the 2nd Symposium, Vero Beach, Florida, pp. 312-322.HUMMEL, H. E. (1989B) Natural products as biotechnical weapons towards the future pest management of Diabrotica beetles. In Med. Fac. Landbouww. Rijksuniv. Ghent, vol. 54, no. 3a, pp. 945-954HUMMEL, H. E., HEIN, D. F. & SCHMUTTERER, H. (2012) The coming of age of azadirachtins (1985-2010) and related tetranortriterpenoids. In Journal of Biopesticides, vol. 5 (Supplementary), pp. 82-87.HUMMEL, H. E., HEIN. D. F., MA, Y., ITO, Y. & CHOU, E. F. (1997) Isolation and characterization of the insect development modifier azadirachtin A by various MLCCC methods. In Med Fac Landbouww Rijksuniv Gent, vol. 62, pp. 213-223.HUMMEL, H.E. HEIN, D. F., KRAUS, W., LEY, S.V., MORGAN, E. D. & SCHMUTTERER H. (2012) Twenty five years of azadirachtins. In Mitt. dtsch. Gesell. allg. angew. Ent. vol. 18, pp. 467-472.ISMAN, M. B. (1997) Neem and other insecticides: barriers to commercialisation. Phytoparasitica 25: 339-344ISMAN, M. B. (2002) Lepidoptera: Butterflies and Moths. In SCHMUTTERER H. (ed., 2002A) loc cit. pp. 378-401ISMAN, M. B., Matsuura, H., MacKinnon, S., Durst, T., Towers, G. N., & Arnason, J. T. (1996) Phytochemistry of the Meliaceae. So many terpenoids, so few insecticides. In ROMEO, J. T., et al. (eds.) Phytochemical Diversity and Redundancy in Ecological Interactions. Recent Adv. in Phytochem. Plenum Press, New York, vol. 30, pp. 155-178.KALINOWSKI, H.-O., ERMEL, K. & SCHMUTTERER, H. (1993) Strukturaufklärung eines Azadirachtinderivats aus dem Marrangobaum Azadirachta excelsa durch NMR Spektroskopie. In Liebig's Ann. Chem., pp. 1033-1035KETKAR, C. M. (2009) Veterinary applications of Neem (Azadirachta indica A.Juss) and its products. In STRANG, R. & KLEEBERG, H. (eds) Biological Control of Plant, Medical and Veterinary Pests. Vol. 14 of a series by Trifolio -M, Lahnau, Germany, ISBN 3-925 614-29-X, pp. 27-30KETKAR, C. M. & KETKAR, M. S. (2002) Production of neem soap. In SCHMUTTERER, H. (ed., 2002A) loc cit. pp. 715-720KLEEBERG, H. (2001) NeemAzal-T/S a botanical product for efficient control of insect pests. In: Soares de Faria, R. & Kleeberg, H. (eds) Practice oriented results on use and production of plant extracts and pheromones in integrated and biological pest control. Proc. 2nd workshop "neem and pheromones", pp. 28-35. Trifolio-GmbH, Lahnau.KOUL, O. (2004) Neem: A global perspective. In KOUL O. & WAHAB S. (eds.) Neem: Today and in the New Millennium. Kluwer, Amsterdam, pp. 1-19.KRAUS, W. (2002A) Biologically active ingredients – azadirachtin and other triterpenoids (Part I). In: Schmutterer H. (ed., 2002A) loc cit. pp. 39-78.SCHMUTTERER, H. & SINGH, R. P. (2002) List of insect pests susceptible to neem products. In SCHMUTTERER, H. (ed., 2002A) loc cit. pp. 411-456.SIDDIQUI, B. S., ALI, S. T. & ALI, S. K. (2009) Chemical wealth of Azadirachta indica. In SINGH, K. K. et al. (eds.) Neem. A Treatise. I.K. International Publishing House, New Delhi/ Bangalore, pp. 171-207.STRANG, R. & KLEEBERG, H. (eds.)(2009) Biological control of plant, medical and veterinary pests. In Proceedings of the 14th Neem Workshop, Wetzlar, Germany, ISBN 3-925614-29-X, pp. 274.TALWAR G. P., RAGHUVANSHI, P. & JACOBSON M. (2002) Neem for control of fertility and sexually transmitted pathogens of the reproductive tract. In SCHMUTTERER, H. (ed., 2002A) loc cit. pp. 666-677.VAN DER ESCH, S. A., CARNAVALI, F. & AMICI, A. (2009) Effects of Neem derived products on gastointestinal nematodes in vitro and in vivo in sheep. In STRANG, R. & KLEEBERG, H. (eds.) loc cit. pp. 31-40VEITCH, G. E., BECKMANN, E., BURKE, B. J., BOYER, A., MASLEN, S. L., & LEY, S. V. (2007) Synthesis of azadirachtin: a long but successful journey. In Angew Chem Int Ed, vol 46, pp. 1-5. DOI: 10.1002/anie.200703027.VEITCH, G. E., BOYER, A., & LEY, S. V. (2008) The azadirachtin story. Angew Chem Int Edition, vol. 47, no. 49, pp. 9402-9429.ZUBKOFF, P. L. & KUMAR R. (1999) Regulation of neem-based products in the United States. 99 World Neem Conference (Vancouver, Canada), Abstract, pp. 3-4. 

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