Evaluation of insecticidal effect of essential oil of some medicinal plants against confused flour beetle adults (Tribolium confusum)

Subject Areas : Plant Pests

Masoumeh Darvishi ¹ , Akram Mobini ² , Samin Seddigh ³

1 - . MSc. Student Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Islamic Azad University, Varamin, Iran.
2 - MSc. Student , Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Islamic Azad University, Varamin, Iran.
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Islamic Azad University, Varamin, Iran

Received: 2016-04-13 Accepted : 2016-07-23 Published : 2016-11-21

Keywords: Tribolium confusum, Rosemary, Walnut leaf, Plant essential oils, White Pepper,

Abstract :

The confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val, feeds on starchy material like flour, bran, and groats. These insects not only add significant losses to the product while feeding, but also due to the rapid population growth, the crop is infected with its feces and larval shells, and its quality is greatly reduced. Recently, many studies have been done on the application of plant essential oils or their components as a safe alternative to commonly used fumigant toxins. In this research, toxicity of three plant essential oils including Rosemary, White Pepper and Walnut leaves were investigated in three concentrations of 10, 30 and 50 μl and was compared to Rosemary extract. All experiments were carried out in laboratory conditions under temperature 27 ± 1°C, with 30 ± 5% RH and a photoperiod of 14h. The results showed that using Rosemary extract did not control T. confusum which had no significant difference with control. The essential oils of Walnut leaf, Rosemary and White Pepper made a significant difference in the mortality of the adults of the confused flour beetle. With increasing concentration, the mortality rate of T. confusum adults increased in all essential oils and all of them had a significant difference. The most percentage of mortality was observed at 50 μl concentration in Pepper essential oil. The optimum conditions for using essential oils were also investigated. So that the most pest mortality would be obtained by using 50 μl concentrations of White Pepper and Rosemary essential oils, causing 100% and 60% mortality of T. confusum, respectively.