From wood protection to health protection: larvicidal potential of formulations containing Sextonia rubra wood residues extract against Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

IRG/WP 20-10968

E Cervil, N Amusant, E Wozniak, I Dusfour, J-B Duchemin, D Azam, M Coke, E Houël

French Guiana is a French overseas territory almost entirely covered by Amazonian rainforest and characterized by its incredible biodiversity. Several woody species harboured by this tropical forest are exploited sustainably for timber industry. They are commercialized notably for carpentry and outdoor applications because of their remarkable natural durability. Among them, stand Dicorynia guianensis Amshoff (Angélique), Qualea rosea Aubl. (Gonfolo rose), Ruizterania albiflora (Warm.) Marc.-Berti (Gonfolo gris) and Sextonia rubra Mez. Van der Werff (Grignon franc), representing around 80% of the global exploitation volume. This industry however generates large volumes of wastes, in particular because more than 50% of the ligneous material are lost between cutting down and sawing. Moreover, the strong demographic growth (around 2.5% per year) in French Guiana will lead to a notable increase of the need for timber, in construction as well as for energy, and the amount of induced wood wastes will increase concurrently. Sawdust residues are used currently only for biomass energy factories, but owing to the presence of molecules displaying interesting biological properties, wood residues and sawdust definitively deserve more attention. In recent years, a rising interest in value-added forest products, and in particular wood extractives, has indeed been observed, with the aim of reducing the lost generated by the forest industry due to undervalorized biomass components (Royer et al. 2013a, Khan et al. 2014, Borges et al. 2019). It is therefore relevant to integrate a new step in forest resources valorisation, putting the bio-refinery concept into practice (Royer et al. 2013b).


Keywords: natural durability, wood protection, heartwood extractives, bio-refinery, human health, valorization, botanical insecticides

Conference: 20-06-10/11 IRG51 Webinar


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