Fumigant toxicity of three plant essential oils on the adults of Callosobruchus maculates (Col: Bruchidae) in vitro

In search of alternatives agents for conventional pesticides,the fumigat activity of essential oils from Artemisia haussknechtii,Mentha longifoliaandThymus daenensis were tested against adults of Callosobruchus maculatus. The experiment was conducted using a completely randomized design of factorial experiment. The essential oils were prepared by water distillation method. Experiment was carried out at 30 ± 2 ˚C and 60 ± 5% R. H. under dark condition. At a concentration of 18.518 µl/l essential oils of A. haussknechtii,M. longifoliaandT. daenensis caused 100, 100 and 92% mortality of adults, respectively. LC50 values of essential oil of A. haussknechtii,M. longifoliaandT. daenensis were found to be 1.204, 3.624 and 4.754 µl/l, respectively. It was found that plant essential oils could be used as a safe pesticide or model for new synthetic pesticides to control of storage pest.