Insecticidal activity of tarragon, common and field wormwood essential oils against green peach aphid

Artemisia species are historically considered as highly potential insecticidal plants used for tackling harmful house insects. The essential oils of three Artemisia species including A. dracunculus, A. campestris and A. austriaca spelendes essential oils were extracted by maceration using Clevenger apparatus. The Artemisia species essential oil yields were measured and volatile chemical compounds were identified by MS gaschromatography method. The insecticidal activity of essential oils was determined by bioassay methods against green peach aphid during 12 hours with concentrations of 62, 125, 250 and 500 ppm and 1, 2, 4, 6 recording mortality rate every other two hours. The essential oils yield of tarragon, common and field wormwood were determined as 6.8, 4, and 3.9 ml/kg plant biomass, respectively. Also, 6, 8, and 16 volatile chemical compounds were identified from tarragon, common and field wormwood , respectively. The main compounds for the three species were as follows methyl-cavicole, cis-osimen and limonene in A. dracunculus, 1,8-cineol and 3,5-peptadin 2-ol in A. campestris camphor, and beta-thujan, caryophyllen oxide, alpha thujan, 1,3-Cineol and caryophyllen in A. austriaca. All of the three plant essential oils showed a considerable mortality rate against green peach aphid while aphidicidal activity of tarragon was considerably higher than the other two species. The amounts of 50 percentage mortality rates of tarragon, common and field wormwood were lower than 62, 382, and 576 ppm, respectively. Therefore, essential oils of tarragon on peach green aphid can be considered as safe natural products and a substitution as dangerous chemicals in agricultural crops.