Repellence and toxicity properties of Eugenol, Isoeugenol, Carvacrol and Thymol against Triatoma infestans Klug and Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann

LÓPEZ S; JOFRÉ BARUD, F.; ARAGÓN L; FERESIN G; LÓPEZ ML (CO-CORRESPONDING AUTHOR); ZYGADLO JA (CO-CORRESPONDING AUTHOR)

Córdoba

Congreso; 2do. Congreso de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Ecología Química; 2012

Asociación Latinoamericana de Ecología Química

Essential oils, which are volatile oils from plants, have been shown to be a potent source of botanical pesticides. Among its constituents, some derived from benzene (phenylpropanoids) such as thymol, eugenol and carvacrol are recognized by their properties against insects. In this work, we evaluated the repellent and toxicity properties of carvacrol, thymol, eugenol and isoeugenol against Triatoma infestans and Ceratitis capitata, which are insects of health and agronomical importance. The lethal dose LD50 was determined on C. capitata using Probit analysis based on mortality data at 24 h and lethal time of toxicity LT50 was done on assessments at 10 µg/fly by topical application against females and males. The LD50 were <15 μg/fly both for males and females with the exception of isoeugenol in females (25.5 μg/fly). The most active compounds were carvacrol on both sexes and thymol in males. The LT50 in males were 2.8 h and 3.3 h for carvacrol and thymol, respectively while in females 12.9 h and 17.4 h for carvacrol and eugenol, respectively. Repellency on T. infestans nymphs was determined according to standard method. Isoeugenol and eugenol were the most repellent compounds with 96 and 70% of repellence respectively. Carvacrol and thymol showed a faint repellent activity.   Acknowledgements: To ProCEM-San Juan and Servicio Nacional Chagas, Cba. Financial support was provided by CICITCA-UNSJ (F887), ANPCyT (PICT ´07- 01468) and CONICET (PIP´08 0407).