CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM NATIVE SPECIES FOR INSECT PEST CONTROL

LÓPEZ ML; LÓPEZ S,; JOFRÉ BARUD F; TAPIA A,; FERESIN G.

TUCUMAN

Congreso; TUCUMAN BIOLOGY ASSOCIATION; 2012

Asociación de Biología de Tucumán

In recent decades, the decline of traditional chemical pesticides has been emphasized due to the adverse effects on the environment and human health. Some innovative and sustainable strategies to control pest populations are focused on altering the behavior of insects. Technologies such as lure and kill, push-pull systems, and sexual confusion, are based on the need for insects to fi nd mates, fi nd food sources or oviposition sites. Among the natural products, essential oils are widely recognized for its many properties on insects such as toxic agents, fumigants and repellents. Its popularity has grown by their low toxicity and consumer approval. As a consequence, the essential oil market has had the strongest growth of all the botanical pesticide markets in recent years. Essential oils are semiochemical agents as they disrupt the behavior of insects. Therefore, development of biotechnological alternatives for the control of insect pests based on the application of semiochemicals as attractants, repellents and natural insecticides is a novel and feasible research topic. Our research is currently focusing on the chemical composition of essential oils from native species of San Juan and their role as semiochemicals and toxic agents, which may constitute new alternatives for pest control. The presentation will illustrate the results obtained on adults of Ceratitis capitata, the Mediterranean fruit fl y (tsl line) as an insect model. The assays include insecticidal, repellent and attractant activity as well as enhancers of sexual competitiveness of the sterile males produced by the mass-rearing facilities of the Province of San Juan. Here, it will be described the importance of the composition of the oils and their infl uence on the variation of the bioactivities studied