Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Stored Product Pests, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Sabahia, Alexandria, Egypt
2
Department of Pesticides Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, 21545-El-Shatby, Alexandria, Egypt
3
Department of Pest Control and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Agriculture (Damanhour), Alexandria University, Damanhour, Egypt
Abstract
Some essential oils isolated from Egyptian plants viz, Mentha microphylla C. Koch., of Artemisia judaica L., Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. and Majorana hortensis Moench, were evaluated against the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and the rust red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) in stored wheat grains under laboratory conditions. The essential oils were applied on the wheat grains at rates of 0.5, 1 and 5 mg/g except for M. microphylla oil which was applied at lower rates of 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/g, because of its higher toxicity, to the two tested insect species. All tested essential oils had significant toxic effect to the two insects in sorted wheat. At all of the application rates, oils treatments showed significantly higher mortality of adults of both insects after one and two weeks compared with untreated wheat grains except for the treatments of the oil of E. camaldulensis at 0.5 mg/g and the oil M. hortensis at 0.5 and 1 mg/g with S. oryzae. The oil of M. microphylla was the most toxic one among the tested oils against both insects. The oil treatments also significantly reduced progeny production of S. oryzaecompared with the untreated control. No progeny emerged after 6 and 12 weeks on treated wheat with M. microphylla oil at 0.5 mg/g and with A. judaica and E. camaldulensis oils at 5 mg/g. The treatments with tested essential oils significantly reduced grain weight loss, particularly at the higher application rates and all treatments with M. microphylla oil. These promising oils, M. microphylla and A. judaica, could be recommended for use as part of integrated pest management program of S. oryzae and T. castaneum in stored wheat.
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