Contact toxicity and repellence of essential oil from Senecio scandens and its major components against three stored product insects

Abstract

The objective of this work was to investigate the chemical compositions of the essential oil (EO) extracted from Senecio scandens by hydrodistillation and their insecticidal activities against Tribolium castaneum, Lasioderma serricorne and Liposceis bostrychophila. The chemical profile of the EO were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and 20 compounds were identified which accounted for 88.03% of the total EO. Five major compounds identified in the EO were assayed against the three stored product insects. The EO showed strong contact toxicity to T. castaneum (LD₅₀ = 18.01 μg/adult), L. serricorne (LD₅₀ = 20.11 μg/adult) and L. bostrychophila (LD₅₀ = 72.14 μg/cm²). Among all compounds, geraniol showed the contact toxicity against L. serricorne and L. bostrychophila with LD₅₀ values of 15.82 μg/adult and 26.64 μg/cm². The EO and its five chemical compounds also exhibited different level of potential repellence to the three stored product insects.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Senecio scandens Buch-Ham
• essential oils
• contact toxicity
• repellency

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Dr. Liu Q.R. from College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, for the identification of the investigated medicinal herb.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the 2021 Intercollegiate Cooperation Project of the Education Department of Liaoning Province and 2021 Ministry of Education Industry-University Cooperation Collaborative Education Project.