Fumigant toxicity and repellency effect of essential oils of Pinus eldarica and Cupressus arizonica on adults of flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller. (Lep., Pyralidae)

Subject Areas : entomology and othea arthropods

F.  Habibi- Ghozloo ¹ (Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch, Arak, Iran)
M.  Moarefi ² (Department of plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Karaj, Iran)
Z.  Rafiei-Karahroodi ³ (Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University- Arak Branch, Arak, Iran)

Received: 2011-12-10 Accepted : 2012-09-27 Published : 2012-11-21

Keywords:

Abstract :

Ephestia kuehniella Zeller. is a major pest of stored products especially the it depreciates the quantity and quality of the cereal flour economically. To control the pest in warehouses, usage of essential oils is considered as an appropriate alternative to synthetic pesticides. Therefore, In this research, Lc50 and fumigant toxicity of Pinus eldarica and Cupressus arizonica were determind on 5 day-old adults of flour moth. Also repellency effects of essential oils were investigated on one day-old adult of flour moth by an two way olfacterometer. Results showed that C. arizonica oil with LC50 values of 38.04 μl/l.air had least toxicity and P. eldarica oil with LC50 values of 3.11 μl/l.air had the most toxicity. Mortality increased as oil concentration and exposure time increased. The most repellency effect has been observed in P. eldarica oil with 6μl/l.air concentration (%84.61) and the lowest repellency in C. arizonica with 10μl/l.air concentration (%23.52). Also Repellency effect increased significantly by increasing essential oil concentration. It is concluded that the essential oil used in this research can be a candidate as a safety pesticide for stored product pests control.