Insecticidal activity of essential oil of Artemisia herba-alba Asso against three stored product beetles

Abstract

Plant secondary metabolites play an important role in plant-insect interactions and therefore such compounds may have insecticidal or biological activity against insects. In the present study, aerial parts of A. herba-alba Asso were subjected to hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus and the chemical composition of the volatile oils was studied by GC-MS. β- thujone (35.66) was the main component of the essential oil. Insecticidal activity of the oil was evaluated against Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) and Rhyzopertha dominica (F.). After 24 h exposure time, R. dominica (LC50= 76.48 µl/l air) was more susceptible and T. castaneum (LC50= 564.40 µl/l air) was more tolerant than other species. In general, mortality increased as the doses of essential oil and exposure time increased. These results suggested that A. herba-alba oil might have potential as a control agent against T. castaneum, C. maculatus, and especially R. dominica.