Repellent Activity of Citrus Oils Against the Cockroaches Blattella Germanica, Periplaneta Americana and P
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
J. Pestic. Sci., 34(1), 77–88 (2009) DOI: 10.1584/jpestics.G07-30 Original Article Repellent activity of citrus oils against the cockroaches Blattella germanica, Periplaneta americana and P. fuliginosa Changmann YOON, Shin-Ho KANG, Jeong-Oh YANG, Doo-Jin NOH, Pandiyan INDIRAGANDHI and Gil-Hah KIM* Department of Plant Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361–763, Republic of Korea (Received September 10, 2007; Accepted December 24, 2008) The repellent efficacy of 17 essential oils against the German cockroach, Blattella germanica was examined using a T-tube olfactometer. Five oils repelled B. germanica with good efficacy, ranging from 70.0 to 96.7%. Four of these oils, grapefruit, lemon, lime, and orange, were from the Citrus family Rutaceae. These citrus essen- tial oils showed similar repellent activity against two more cockroach species, such as Periplaneta americana and P. fuliginosa. Gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry analyses revealed that the major components responsible for the repellent activity of the citrus oils were limonene, b-pinene and g-terpinene. Limonene ap- pears to be the main component responsible for the repellent activity rather than b-pinene and g-terpinene. The repellent efficacy of these components varied with different doses and the cockroach species tested. It is likely that minor components of the oils also contributed to the overall repellent activity of citrus essential oils, except orange oil. The activity of orange oil is almost solely attributed to the activity of limonene. Also, the repellent ac- tivity of citrus oil and that of each of the terpenoids makes little difference to the efficacy of a repellant against the three species of cockroaches. © Pesticide Science Society of Japan Keywords: Cockroach, repellent, citrus oils, monoterpene, limonene. Cockroaches are insects with worldwide distribution that Cockroaches have long been recognized as potential me- thrive best in warm, humid, lowland areas throughout the chanical vectors of human intestinal parasites and animal Tropics. Of the 4000 species of cockroaches (Dictyoptera: pathogens, as well as sources of human allergens. Indeed, it Blattodea) known to exist, approximately 30 species coexist has been found that cockroach antigen is the most common in human habitats and approximately 16 species are associ- asthma-inducing allergen in children in inner cities.4,5) Cock- ated with human health problems.1) The cockroach species roaches are controlled primarily with synthetic organic insec- that are closely associated with human dwellings, food-pro- ticides in the form of baits, aerosols, foggers, and crack treat- cessing industries, service-rendering facilities and/or occupa- ments.6,7) At present, chemical-based methods for cockroach tional environments include Blattella germanica, Blatta ori- management generally involve repeated applications of resid- entalis, Periplaneta australasiae (Fabricius), P. americana ual insecticides (e.g., dichlorvos, chlorpyrifos, propoxur, and (Linnaeus) and Supella supellectilium (Serville).2) Among pyrethroids),8) stomach poisons (e.g., hydramethylnon, boric these, B. germanica is the most ubiquitous and also the one acid, and sulfluramid),9) and insect growth regulators (e.g., most frequently seen in food preparation areas, restaurants, noviflumuron and lufenuron).10,11) However; several factors cafeterias, kitchens and toilets. The prevalence of B. german- have limited the use of synthetic chemicals: the development ica in human habitats makes this type of cockroach a major of natural resistance by cockroaches, and negative effects on nuisance and mechanical transmitter of etiological disease the environment and human health in some cases. Conse- agents.3) quently, an intensive effort has been made to find alternative repellents, which are environmentally friend and ecologically 12,13) *To whom correspondence should be addressed. safe. E-mail: [email protected]. Many natural compounds isolated from plants have demon- Published online XXXXX strated a wide spectrum of biological activities. Among these G©Pesticide Sciencea Society l of Japan l e yv arious kindsP of natural r substances o that have receivedo particu- f 78 C. Yoon et al. Journal of Pesticide Science lar attention as natural agents for insect management are es- been properly addressed whether the monoterpenes in Citrus sential oils from aromatic and medicinal plants.12–15) Numer- oils can act as insect repellents or whether they could be used ous plants and derivative products, in particular essential oils, in agriculture to replace synthetic insecticides. To test this, we have been investigated and described as potentially natural examined the repellent activity of 17 essential oils, including sources of insect repellent.11,16) Insect repellents are sub- five Citrus oils, against household insect pest cockroaches, stances that act locally or at a distance, deterring an insect with special reference to three different species. The major from flying to, landing on or biting human or animal skin. Al- active components of the oils found to have repellent effects though the use of synthetic repellents tends to be more effec- were detected by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass tive than natural repellents, the development of insect resist- Spectrometry, and then also tested for their repellent activity. ance has restricted the usefulness of synthetic repellents.17) Materials and Methods Thus, plant-based repellents may be comparable to, or even somewhat better than, synthetics, depending on the formula. 1. Essential oils and terpenes Many plant essential oils and their components have been The names and sources of the seventeen essential oils used in shown to have good repellent activity,18–20) for example, Piper this study are listed in Table 1. Myrrh, pine needle oil and guineense (black pepper) seed oil exhibits both insecticidal strawberry oil were from Charabot, France, while the others and repellent activity against the stored product insect pests.18) were purchased from JinArome Co., USA. The terpene com- Benzene derivatives and terpenoids have also been reported to pounds used in this study were as follows: b-myrcene (90%) have insecticidal and repellent activities against Periplanata (Sigma, St. Louis, MO), a-pinene (98%), b-pinene (97%), g- americana.19) In addition, most plant-based insect repellents terpinene (97%), and d-limonene (97%) (Aldrich, Milwaukee, currently on the market contain essential oils from one or WI). Benzene (99%) was purchased from Aldrich. more of the following plants: citronella (Cymbopogon nar- dus), cedar (Juniper virginiana), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus mac- 2. Test insects ulata), geranium (Pelargonium reniforme), lemon-grass Three species of cockroach, the German cockroach Blat- (Cymbopogon excavatus), peppermint (Mentha piperita), tella germanica, the American cockroach Periplaneta ameri- neem (Azadirachta indica) and soybean (Neonotonia cana, and the smokybrown cockroach P. fuliginosa, were ini- wightii).20) tially obtained from the Korean Research Institute of Chemi- Citrus oils, such as grapefruit, lemon, lime and orange, are cal Technology and then reared in our laboratory for 8 years widely utilized in various industries, including agriculture and without exposure to any known insecticides. They were fed household cleaning. Their constituents have been extensively on mouse food pellets and water and were kept in cages studied and used for various applications; however, it has not (32.0ϫ28.0ϫ22.5 cm) at 25Ϯ3°C and 60% RH with a pho- Table 1. Names and sources of seventeen essential oils used in this study Common name Scientific name Family Source Caraway seed Carum carvi Umbelliferae JinArome (USA) Clary sage Salvia sclarea Labiatae JinArome (USA) Clove leaf Eugenia caryophyllata Oleaceae JinArome (USA) Coriander Coriandrum sativum Umbelliferae JinArome (USA) Eucalyptus Eucalyptus globulus Myrtaceae JinArome (USA) Grapefruit Citrus paradisi Rutaceae JinArome (USA) Lemon Citrus limonum Rutaceae JinArome (USA) Lime Citrus aurantifolia Rutaceae JinArome (USA) Marjoram Origanum vulgare Labiatae JinArome (USA) Myrrh Commiphora myrrh Burseraceae Charabot (France) Orange Citrus sinensis Rutaceae JinArome (USA) Petitgrain Citrus aurantium Rutaceae JinArome (USA) Pine needle Pinus sylvestris Pinaceae Charabot (France) Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis Labiatae JinArome (USA) Spearmint Mentha spicata Labiatae JinArome (USA) Strawberry Fragaria ananassa Rosaceae Charabot (France) G aYlangylang l lCananga e odorata y Annonaceae P r JinArome o (USA) o f Vol. 34, No. 2, 77–88 (2009) Repellent efficacy of Citrus oils against cockroaches 79 toperiod of 12 : 12 (L : D) h. For the repellency test, we used Results and Discussion 10–20d-old adult female cockroaches since they showed the highest activity to chemicals. To avoid the effects of anesthe- 1. Repellency of essential oils sia or physical stress that may be caused by handling the When cockroaches were used in a blank test with the T-tube cockroaches with tweezers, the insects and their shelters were olfactometer, there was no difference in their choice of arm, transferred to repellent test cages by shaking. The number of which indicates that the olfactometer did not have any bias. insects was then adjusted by removing extra insects from the When screening the seventeen selected essential oils, only five test cage with tweezers. oils showed significant repellent activity in the order of grape- fruit (96.7%), lemon (92.9%), lime (86.7%), orange (71.4%)