Components of Oil of Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) That Repel Colorado Potato Beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)

Abstract

The steam distillate of fresh leaves and flowers of tansy, Tanucetum vulgare, was found to be strongly repellent to Colorado potato beetles, Lptinorursa daemlineuta. Liquid chromatography detected 56 compounds present. Identification of compounds was by gc/ms. The major components, camphor (30%) and umbellulone (25%), show the plant to be a previously unreported chemotype. A commercial oil of tansy was also found to be highly repellent to Colorado potato beetles; gclms analysis found bornyl acetate (74%) to be the major component. To determine the active compounds of the oils, bioassays were run using Colorado potato beetles as detectors for gc and tlc. To determine the relative strengths of repellency, an olfactometer was constructed using potato beetles as detectors. The strongest repellents found were: 1 ,%cineole, bornyl acetate, p-cymene, y-terpinene, and camphor.In the past 20 years, the concept that some secondary plant products can act as repellents or feeding deterrents in herbivore-plant interactions has become widely accepted ( 1-6). Since early times, many plant materials have been used as insect repellents by mankind to protect himself and his clothing (7), and there have been claims that some plants contain repellents sufficiently potent to repel insects from neighboring plants (8). Recently, Matthews (9,lO) reported the results of field trials showing that the aromatic perennial, tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L, Compositae), produces a significant decrease in the number of Colorado potato beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) on nearby potato plants (Solanum tubevosum L) relative to potato plants at a distance. The volatile compounds in tansy apparently repel the beetles from the vicinity. Another recent report shows that an aqueous extract of tansy is a feeding deterrent for several kinds of beetles (1 1). Tansy has also been used medically as an anthelmintic and as a flavoring, but it appears to be relatively toxic (12, 13). W e became interested in identifying those volatile substances present in tansy that might account for the repellent properties.A survey of the chemical literature found more than 100 papers published since 1878 on tansy, with approximately 100 compounds reported to be present. A major finding is that the volatile oil of tansy is not consistent in composition from all plants, but that more than 30 chemotypes of tansy have been reported, each of which has a different compound as the major component of the volatile oil (14,15). As has been found for many other species, a single plant produces an oil with relatively constant composition, but plants from different geographic areas produce oils of different composition apparently because of genetic differences ( 16,17).To be certain that we were working with a repellent chemotype, we obtained samples of the same plants studied by Matthews (9,lO) and used them for the work reported in this paper.In this paper, we show that compounds obtained from tansy are repellent to Colorado potato beetles, identify the major compounds in two chemo...

Chemical composition and biological activity of Tanacetum audibertii (Req.) DC. (Asteraceae), an endemic species of Sardinia Island, Italy

“…Especially Tanacetum parthenium (L.) Schultz Bip (feverfew) is a known remedy for the treatment of various diseases, including arthritis, fever, vertigo, migraine, menstrual disorders, stomach-ache, toothache, insect bites and psoriasis (Ernst and Pittler, 2000). According to recent studies, essential oils and extracts of Tanacetum genus exhibit anti-inflammatory (Brown et al, 1997;Ghantous et al, 2013;Mordujovich-Buschiazzo et al, 1996;Park et al, 2011;Sur et al, 2009), anticancer (Ghantous et al, 2013), antibacterial (Habibi et al, 2009;Hethelyi et al, 1991;Holopainen and Kauppinen, 1989;Mohsenzadeh et al, 2011), antiviral (Onozato et al, 2009), antifungal (Hethelyi et al, 1991), antihelmintic (Godinho et al, 2014), insecticidal (Hough-Golstein and Hahn, 1992;Nottingham et al, 1991;Panasiuk, 1984;Schearer, 1984;Suomi et al, 1986) and antiprotozoal effects (Izumi et al, 2008;Tiuman et al, 2005). Many studies have been reported on the essential oil composition of various Tanacetum species (El-Shazly et al, 2002;Goren et al, 2001;Greche et al, 2000;Judzentiene and Mockute, 2005;Kandemir et al, 2008;MajedJabari et al, 2002;Marongiu et al, 2009;Mockute and Judzentiene, 2004;Monfared et al, 2002;Piras et al, 2014;Polatoglu et al, 2011;Rohloff et al, 2004;Weyerstahl et al, 1999) and camphor, 1,8-cineole, ␣-thujone, carv...…”

Unexpected reactions of a generalist predator towards defensive devices of cassidine larvae (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae)

“…that feed upon tansy towards the ant Myrmica rubra, a generalist predator. Tansy (Chrysanthemum vulgare, Asteraceae) is well known to contain numerous bioactive components, among them insect repellents (Panasiuk 1984;Schearer 1984;Teuscher and Lindequist 1994) which might be discharged by tansy-feeding herbivores with their faeces for defensive purposes. Several herbivorous insects protect themselves by sequestering compounds of the food plant, which have a feeding deterrent or repellent eect on predators (Duey 1980;Pasteels et al 1988b;Harborne 1993;Dettner et al 1997).…”

Toxicological and behavioral effects of some plant extract on Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, 1824 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

“…Repellent effects of different plant extracts against insect pest species has been tested in many studies with some promising results (Schearer, 1984;Wyrostkiewicz, 1987;Chiasson et al, 1994;Mateeva, 1998;Przybylski, 2002;Pavela, 2004;Sarbu et al, 2004;Wawrzyniak & Lamparski, 2008). Among the plant extracts tested, the greatest repellency was observed with A. millefolium extract with 0.01% proportional repellency in the first 15 min.…”