Insecticidal and Synergistic Activities of Two Essential Oils from Pistacia lentiscus and Mentha pulegium Against the Green Peach Aphid Myzus persicae

Abstract

Chemical composition of two essential oils (EOs) extracted from Mentha pulegium and Pistacia lentiscus was investigated. Volatile compounds were characterized. Major ones were pulegone (45.89%), cis-menthone (23.25 %) and trans-menthone (14.73 %) for M. pulegium and α-pinene (28.57%), β-myrcene (21.03%) and L-limonene (6.97%) for P. lentiscus. Then, the insecticidal and synergistic activities of the EOs were studied against Myzus persicae. The results showed that both EOs were toxic against the target pest. Aphid mortality caused by M. pulegium and P. lentiscus Eos was 86 ± 11.4 and 76 ± 11.4%, respectively. LC50 of the latest EO was lower than that of P. lentiscus with 596 and 876 ppm, respectively. In addition, no synergism was observed when both oils were mixed and used against the same aphid. Interestingly, there are no differences between toxicity of both EOs and that of the chemical insecticide leading to 70 ± 10% mortality. This study suggested that the EOs have a great potential to be used in agriculture against M. persicae.

Keywords

• Contact toxicity
• essential oils
• Mentha pulegium
• Myzus persicae
• Pistacia lentiscus