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Abstract
Essential oil (EO) from the weedy shrub Eupatorium glabratum was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and then evaluated as insecticide and repellent against Sitophilus zeamais and as fungicide against Fusarium commune, F. graminaearum, F. sporotrichum, Penicillium expansum, and Phoma herbarum. The EO was composed mainly by monoterpenes, with α-pinene (29.5%) and α-phellandrene (19.6%) as the most abundant. S. zeamais showed similar susceptibility to pure vapors of α-pinene and α-phellandrene, and to whole EO of Eupatorium glabratum. The EO killed insects exposed to its vapors for 1 week (LC50=18.0 μLmL−1 air). The LC50 for daily female insect mortality was 16.0 μL-mL−1 air, and for males 20 μL-mL−1 air). The EO was repellent in olfactometry tests for females and males at 0.4 μL oil cm-2, but attractive for males at 0.1 μLoil cm-2. The EO also was differentially antagonistic to fungi, inhibiting at various degrees spore germination, germinal tube elongation and mycelium growth.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) through PAPIIT- IT215511 grant awarded to FJEG; and Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas-UNAM through POFJEG granted to FJEG. The authors thank Rebeca Flores from Instituto de Biología, UNAM for the identification of the investigated fungi; Heberto Ferreira and Alberto Valencia of CIECO-UNAM for their technical support; Gerardo Reyes for his help in conducting some experiments; to the Comunidad Indígena de Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mich., for allowing the collection of plant material in their lands; and to Consejo Estatal de Ciencia y Tecnología de Michoacán (COECyT) for a B.Sc. thesis grant awarded to L.P.