Contact Toxicity and Chemical Composition of Essential Oil of Acantholimon scorpius

Plumbaginaceae plants family is a valuable natural insecticidal compound. This research focused on contact toxicity and chemical composition of essential oil obtained from Acantholimon scorpus. The essential oil from the aerial parts of A. scorpius was extracted by hydrodistillation method and tested for their toxicity against Oryzeaphilus mercator (Coleoptera: Silvanidae) and Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenerbrionidae). Chemical compounds of the essential oil was analyzed by the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID). The essential oil showed toxic effect on tested insects. This oil showed 90.0% mortality of O. mercator and 85.2% mortality of T. castaneum at a dose of 12 μl /l air after 48h of exposure. The constituents of this oil were identified, representing more than 82.9% of the total essential oil composition. Hexadecanoic acid, tetrahydrogeranyl acetone and oleic acid were the main compounds of the essential oil. According to the result the essential oil of A. scorpius showed a noticeable insecticidal activity in contact toxicity model.