ABSTRACT
Bioactivity of Lantana camara L. essential oil against Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius)

Nooshin Zandi-Sohani1*, Mohammad Hojjati2, and Ángel Carbonell-Barrachina3
 

Lantana camara L. is a widespread plant species mostly native to subtropical and tropical regions of the world. In this study, insecticidal and repellent activities of L. camara essential oil were evaluated against Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius) (Col: Bruchidae). Analysis of chemical composition by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) showed high amounts of sesquiterpenes, mainly α-humelene (23.3%) and cis-caryophyllene (16.2%). The results showed that the essential oil of L. camara has strong repellent activity against adults of C. maculatus at all tested concentrations. After 2 and 4 h, 97.4 and 100% repellency was seen at highest concentrations of 0.4 μL cm-2, respectively. Moreover, the oil was found to be toxic to adults when applied by fumigation. Responses varied with the gender of insect and exposure time. The LC50 values were 282.7 and 187.9 μL L-1 for females and males, respectively. An increase in the exposure time from 3 to 24 h caused increasing in mortality from 23.6 to 100% in males and from 14.1 to 97.1% in females, at highest concentration (1160 μL L-1). According to these results, L. camara essential oil may be useful as an alternative for bean protection against C. maculatus.

Keywords: Fumigant, insecticidal activity, bean protection, Lantana camara.
1Ramin Agriculture and Natural Resources University, Department of Plant Protection, Mollasani, Ahvaz, Iran. Corresponding author (nzandisohani@yahoo.com).
2Ramin Agriculture and Natural Resources University, Department of Food Science & Technology, Mollasani, Ahvaz, Iran.
3Universidad Miguel Hernández, Departamento Tecnología Agroalimentaria. Carretera de Beniel, 03312-Orihuela, Alicante, España.