Fumigant toxicity of three plant essential oils on dried fruit mite, Carpoglyphus lactis L. (Acari: Carpoglyphidae)

The dried fruit mite، Carpoglyphus lactis L. (Acari: Carpoglyphidae) is known as one of the most important pest species of dried fruit worldwide. Recently، damage of this pest on stored date fruits has been reported from Iran. In the past few decades، herbal essential oils have received much attention as potential control agents for stored-product pests، because of their lethal، repellent and antifeedant effects. In this experiment، fumigant toxicity of cumin (cuminum cyminum L.)، fennel (foeniculum vulgare Mill) and spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) essential oils were tested against female adults and eggs of C. lactis at 25± 1°C، 75±5% relative humidity and full darkness condition. The essential oils were extracted using Clevenger-type water distillation. After 24h of exposure، the LC50 value of cumin، fennel and spearmint against female adults were 3. 17، 3. 38 and 2. 48 μl/l air، respectively. In ovicidal bioassays، the LC50 values for the above mentioned essential oils were 16. 99، 21. 29 and 7. 64 μl/l air، respectively. The results show that spearmint oil had the highest adulticidal effect rather than the other essential oils، but there was no significant difference between the lethal effect of cumin and spearmint essential oils. Spearmint essential oils also had significantly the highest lethal effects against eggs of C. lactis in comparison with those of cumin and fennel.