Acaricidal activities of essential oils against two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch

Abstract

Eleven essential oils (EOs) were screened for their fumigant and repellent activity against two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acarina: Tetranychidae) under laboratory conditions. Results showed that, in fumigant toxicity assay, Mentha longifolia L. showed more toxic to T. urticae (LC₅₀ = 11.08 mg L⁻¹ air) and was followed by Mentha piperita L. (LC₅₀ = 15.86 mg L⁻¹ air), Cymbopogon flexuosus (Nees ex Steud.) W. Watson (LC₅₀ = 17.23 mg L⁻¹ air) and Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) (LC₅₀ = 18.82 mg L⁻¹ air). In repellent activity test, Acorus calamus (L.), M. piperita and C. flexuosus showed 100% repellent activity to T. urticae as compared to Cedrus deodara (Roxb.) and Aegle marmelos (L.) (76.67%).

Keywords:

• Essential oils
• two-spotted spider mite
• Tetranychus urticae
• fumigant toxicity
• repellent

Acknowledgement

Authors thank Director, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh for encouragement and support. IHBT communication number for this article is 4009.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.