Effects of essential oils on mortality and population density of the whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) and the two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) in the greenhouse

ABSTARCT

Essential oils (EOs) and their components have toxic effects on insects and mites. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of the EOs of mexican oregano, grapefruit, albahaca and sour orange at 0.2% (v/v) on the mortality and population density of Bemisia tabaci and Tetranychus urticae in a greenhouse. All EOs caused significant mortality (70–90%) of eggs and nymphs of B. tabaci, with the highest by the mexican oregano EO. This EO also produced the highest mortality (50–55%) of adults and nymphs of T. urticae. All EOs caused a significant decrease in the population density of T. urticae, but no effect was observed on the population of B. tabaci. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that the major constituent in mexican oregano EO was carvacrol, in grapefruit and sour orange EOs was d-limonene, and in albahaca EO was eucalyptol.

Keywords:

• Botanical insecticides
• biorational products
• horticultural pests

Acknowledgments

The authors thank CONACYT for the postgraduate scholarship to Angel M. Herrera-Gorocica.

Authors’ contributions

AHG, ERS, MASC, HBG and LLM participated in the study design, analysis of data and data interpretation. EHN and MASC conducted the GC-MS experiments. HBG, AHG and ERS conducted the bioassays. MASC, EHN, AHG and ERS wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The data is available upon request, with the corresponding author [email protected]

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by Tecnológico Nacional de México (Research project 9093.20-P granted to Esaú Ruiz-Sánchez).