Agriculture (Feb 2023)

Survival and Demography of the Tomato Borer <i>(Tuta absoluta)</i> Exposed to <i>Citrus</i> Essential Oils and Major Compounds <xref rid="fn1-agriculture-2233184" ref-type="fn">†</xref>

  • Gabriel Tadeu de Paiva Silva,
  • Karolina Gomes Figueiredo,
  • Dejane Santos Alves,
  • Denilson Ferreira de Oliveira,
  • Geraldo Humberto Silva,
  • Gabriela Trindade de Souza e Silva,
  • Murilo Silva de Oliveira,
  • Antonio Biondi,
  • Geraldo Andrade Carvalho

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13030538
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 3
p. 538

Abstract

Read online

Tuta absoluta is a pest of importance: quick to disperse and difficult to control due to the cases of resistance to insecticide active ingredients. Thus, studies using essential oils (EOs) to search for new molecules should be intensified. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the toxicity of EOs from Citrus aurantifolia (lime), Citrus aurantium (petitgrain) and Citrus aurantium bergamia (bergamot) and its major compounds against T. absoluta in a topical application test. Additionally, the demographic parameters of T. absoluta were studied after the topical application of EOs. The median lethal time (LT50) of the population was 12h for the three EOs tested. The median lethal concentration (LC50) was 33.75, 38.78 and 35.05 µg µL−1 for C. aurantifolia, C. aurantium and C. aurantium bergamia, respectively. As found using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) quantification, 44.74% of the EO of C. aurantifolia is α-terpineol, while 55.45% and 58.12% of the EO of C. aurantium and C. aurantium bergamia, respectively, is linalyl acetate. The toxicity of the major compounds was tested at concentrations equivalent to the LC50 of the EOs, that is, 16.2 µg µL−1 for α-terpineol, and 25.8 µg µL−1 for linalyl acetate, using topical application. Both of the major compounds showed less toxicity than the EOs. In the sublethal effects tests, all the EOs negatively affected the demographic parameters of T. absoluta, with a decrease in the duration of larval instars, duration of the pupal period, fecundity, oviposition and viability of the eggs, implying a reduction in the population growth parameters of this pest. The EOs of lime, petitgrain and bergamot are toxic to T. absoluta, and low concentrations cause deleterious effects on the reproductive and population parameters of T. absoluta.

Keywords