ABSTRACT
Use of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus Stapf) Essential Oil As a Repellent of Diuraphis noxia Kurdj. (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in Wheat

Mónica Ricci1*, Susana Padín1, Jorge Ringuelet1, Andrea Kahan1
 

The use of natural products such as essential oils and plant extracts is an alternative for integrated pest management (IPM). The objective of this work was to evaluate the repellent effect of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus Stapf) essential oil on the Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia Kurdj.) on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plants. The essential oil was formulated in an aqueous solution using 5% propylene glycol and 0.5% soybean lecithin as emulsifiers. The concentrations tested were: 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 4% in aqueous solution using 5% propylenglicol and 0.5% soybean lecithin as emulsifiers, with five replicates per treatment. Two application techniques were used: impregnated paper and direct pulverization on wheat plants at the two leaves stage. After the application ten aphids were placed in each pot. Repellence evaluation was carried out 6 h after treatment, counting aphids on plants and expressing it as a percentage of repellence. The results obtained were transformed into a percentage of repellence and analyzed using ANOVA and the Tukey test (P = 0.05). For the application techniques repellence of 66.07 and 74.33% was obtained for pulverization and impregnated paper, respectively. On evaluating the emulsifier formulations, soybean lecithin and propylenglicol, the repellence percentage was 64.78 and 75.63%, respectively. For the concentrations of lemongrass, the repellence percentage of lemongrass essential oil ranged from 65 to 89%. It is concluded that the solutions demonstrated repellent activity against D. noxia.

Keywords: Cymbopogon citratus, lemongrass, Russian wheat aphid.
1 Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, 60 y 119 (1900), CC31 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. E-mail: mricci@agro.unlp.edu.ar *Autor para correspondencia.