Acute toxicity and repellent activity of essential oil from Atalantia guillauminii Swingle fruits and its main monoterpenes against two stored product insects

Abstract

The objective of this work was to analyze the essential oil from Atalantia guillauminii fruits in China and evaluate their chemical compositions, insecticidal and repellent activities against Tribolium castaneum and Lasioderma serricorne adults. The essential oil was obtained by hydro-distillation and its yield was 0.12% (V/W). All together 25 chemical compositions were identified by GC-FID and GC-MS, and the main chemical compositions were D-limonene (41.8%), β-pinene (10.9%) and selina-3,7(11)-diene (6.8%). The bioactivity of the obtained essential oil and its two main compositions (D-limonene and β-pinene) was investigated by fumigation, contact and repellent activity bioassay. The essential oil and its two main compositions all showed significant fumigant toxicity, contact toxicity and repellent activity against two target insects. These results suggest that the essential oil and its two main compositions have potential to be developed as natural insecticides and repellents for the control of stored product insect pests.