ABSTRACT
Contact, fumigant and repellent activities of essential oils of cinnamon, lemon, and peppermint against larvae and adults of Musca domestica L.

Tamara Villanueva-Pereira1, Gonzalo Silva-Aguayo1*, Marcela Rodr?guez2, J. Concepci?n Rodr?guez-Maciel3, Gustavo Cabrera-Barjas4, Alvaro Romero5, and Gabriela Oyarce1
 
The house fly, Musca domestica L., is a common pest in domestic, medical, and veterinary settings. Traditional control methods involving the use of synthetic insecticides have led to resistance and harmed both the environment and human health. Hence, control alternatives are needed, and essential oils have shown contact insecticidal, fumigant, and repellent activities. The objective of this research was to assess, under laboratory conditions, the contact, fumigant, and repellent activities of essential oils of Citrus ×limon (L.) Osbeck, Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume, and Mentha ×piperita L. against adults and larvae of houseflies. The major components in each essential oil were limonene (64.8%; C. limon), cinnamaldehyde (76.1%; C. zeylanicum), and menthol (74.92%; M. piperita). The highest contact toxicity was achieved by C. zeylanicum and M. piperita, both with a CL50 = 1.5 µL mL-1 water in larvae, and C. limon LC50 = 2.5 µL mL-1 water in adults. However, the treatments did not significantly differ. In the fumigant bioassay, C. zeylanicum in larvae (LC50 = 1.9 µL L-1 air) and adults (LC50 = 2.8 µL L-1 air) was the most toxic but was not significantly different from the other treatments. All the treatments resulted in repellent effects, but only the 10% (v/v) concentration resulted in 90% repelled insects. We concluded that C. limon, C. zeylanicum, and M. piperita are effective insecticides and repellents for M. domestica.
Keywords: Botanical insecticides, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Citrus ?limon, essential oils, Mentha ?piperita, Musca domestica, terpenoids, urban pest.
1Universidad de Concepci?n, Facultad de Agronom?a, Chill?n, Chile.
2Universidad de Concepci?n, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanogr?ficas, Concepci?n, Chile.
3Colegio de Postgraduados, Posgrado en Fitosanidad-Entomolog?a y Acarolog?a, Texcoco, M?xico.
4Universidad San Sebasti?n, Facultad de Ciencias para el Cuidado de la Salud, Concepci?n, Chile.
5New Mexico State University, Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Weed Science, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA.
*Corresponding author (gosilva@udec.cl).