Chemical composition and insecticidal activities of the essential oils and various extracts of two Thymus species: Thymus cariensis and Thymus cilicicus

Abstract

In this study, the essential oils and extracts of two Thymus species were investigated for insecticidal potentials against three insect species. The essential oil of T. cariensis showed insecticidal activity causing 56.7 ± 3.3%, 73.3 ± 3.3%, and 83.3 ± 5.1% mortality after 24 h of exposure at 10, 20, and 30 µL/Petri concentrations, respectively. The chemical composition of essential oils and hexane extracts was analyzed using GC-FID and GC-MS. The major compounds of essential oil of T. cariensis were germacrene D (33.59%) and carvacrol (14.86%), whereas the main compounds of essential oil of T. cilicicus were borneol (16.97%), 1,8-cineol (16.78%), and camphor (12.54%).

Keywords:

• Thymus cariensis
• Thymus cilicicus
• essential oil
• insecticidal activity
• toxicity

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Hasan Yıldırım (Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Aegean University) for the identification of the plant samples.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).