Stabilization of cucurbitacin E-glycoside, a feeding stimulant for diabroticite beetles, extracted from bitter Hawkesbury watermelon

Cucurbitacins are feeding stimulants for diabroticite beetles, including corn rootworms and cucumber beetles, which can be added to a bait containing an insecticide thereby reducing the levels of other insecticide treatments needed to control these pests. One of them, cucurbitacin E-glycoside, is water soluble and easily processed from mutant bitter Hawkesbury watermelons (BHW) that express elevated levels of cucurbitacin. Storage of BHW extract at room temperature resulted in a 92% reduction of cucurbitacin E-glycoside over two months, while refrigeration or freezing resulted in a 60% loss of the active ingredient during this time. The loss of the active ingredient was correlated with an increase in BHW extract pH from 5 to greater than 9. The increase in pH of the BHW extracts at room temperature appeared to be due to the growth of certain bacteria, especially Bacillus spp. In refrigerated extracts, the pH remained relatively constant, and bacterial growth was dominated by bacteria such as Lactobacilli. An alternative to refrigeration is concentration of BHW extract. One means of concentration is spray drying, but the high sugar content of the BHW extract (20mg/ml glucose, 40mg/ml fructose) makes this technique impractical. Fermentation of the BHW extract by the yeast, Saccharomyces boulardii, eliminated the sugars and did not raise the pH nor alter the cucurbitacin E-glycoside content of the extract. Elimination of the sugars by fermentation produced an extract that could be successfully spray dried. BHW extract fermented by S. boulardii produced a higher level of feeding stimulation for spotted cucumber beetles in laboratory choice tests. When applied to cucumbers, there was no difference in control of spotted and striped cucumber beetles between baits of fresh or fermented juices combined with the same insecticide.