Fumigant Toxicity of Essential Oils from Some Common Spices against Pulse Beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis (Coleoptera: Bruchidae)

Abstract

In the present study, the essential oil from seven common spices, Anethum graveolens, Cuminum cyminum, Illicium verum, Myristica fragrans, Nigella sativa, Piper nigrum and Trachyspermum ammi was isolated and its insecticidal, oviposition, egg hatching and developmental inhibitory activities were determined against pulse beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis. Essential oils were isolated by hydrodistillation method using Clevenger apparatus. These essential oils caused death of adults and larvae of Callosobruchus chinensis when fumigated. The 24-h LC 50 values against the adults of the insect were 8.9 ml, 10.8 ml, 11.0 ml, 12.5 ml, 13.6 ml, 14.8 ml and 15.6 ml for N. sativa, A. graveolens, C. cyminum, I. verum, P. nigrum, M. fragrans and T. ammi oils respectively. On the other hand, against larval stage these values were 6.4 ml, 7.9 ml, 8.9 ml, 11.1 ml, 11.7 ml, 12.2 ml and 13.5 ml for N. sativa, A. graveolens, C. cyminum, I. verum, P. nigrum, M. fragrans and T. ammi respectively. These essential oils reduced the oviposition potential, egg hatching rate, pupal formation and emergence of adults of F 1 progeny of the insect when fumigated with sublethal concentrations. These essential oils also caused chronic toxicity as the fumigated insects caused less damage to the stored grains. The essential oil of N. sativa was found most effective against all the different stages of the Callosobruchus chinensis followed by A. graveolens, C. cyminum, I. verum, P. nigrum, M. fragrans and T. ammi oils. All the responses were found concentration-dependent. The toxic and developmental inhibitory effects may be due to suffocation and inhibition of various biosynthetic processes of the insects at different developmental stages.

Toxicity of Plant Essential Oils and Their Components Against Lycoriella ingenua (Diptera: Sciaridae)

“…The compounds in the seed of M. fragrans were toxic against adult female German cockroaches, Blattella germanica L. (Blattodea: Ectobiidae). Myristica fragrans essential oil was toxic to the immature stage of Callosobruchus chinensis L. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), and Lycoriella ingenua Dufour (Diptera: Sciaridae) (Chaubey 2008;Park et al 2008). The results of this and previous studies demonstrate that M. fragrans is toxic to several insect species.…”

Antidiabetic Properties of a Spice Plant Nigella sativa

“…The pharmacological actions of the seeds of Nigella sativa or its constituents that have been reported include protection against nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity induced by either disease or chemicals [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. The seeds/oil have anti-inflammatory [15], analgesic [4], antipyretic [16], spasmolytic [17], bronchodialator [17], antihistaminic [18], antihypertensive [19], antitumor [20], antioxidant [18], antineoplastic [9,21,22], antifertility [23], antibacterial [24], antifungal [25], antiprotozoal [26], anthelmintic [27] and insecticidal [28] activities. Treatment of rats with the seed extract for up to 12 weeks has been reported to induce changes in the hemogram that include an increase in both the packed cell volume and hemoglobin [29] and a decrease in plasma concentrations of cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose [30].…”

<b>Biological Effects of Myristica fragrans</b>

“…The aqueous decoctions of M. fragrans have been found to be toxic to cockroaches (Anonymous, 1995). Essential oil of M. fragrans has insecticidal activity against larvae of Lycoriella ingenua (Park et al, 2008) and Callosobruchus chinensis (Chaubey, 2008). reported that M. fragrans seed and aril i.e., nutmeg and mace are potential source of botanical molluscicides against Lymnaea acuminata.…”