ChileanJAR

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.