Abstract
In recent decades, agro-industrial waste has become recognized as a significant social, nutritional, and environmental problem. Thus, management strategies are urgent. The use of agricultural and food processing waste in new by-products is likely to out-compete any other offered solution. In this respect, the valorization of citrus peels from juices and jam industries is an important issue since Tunisia is well-known for the production of such crops. The present work assessed the insecticidal potential of essential oils extracted from the bitter orange Citrus aurantium L. as a protectant against adults of the lesser grain borer Rhyzopertha dominica F. Citrus aurantium fruit samples were collected from Nabeul and Bousselem localities (north Tunisia). Essential oils were analyzed by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques and assessed for their fumigant toxicity against newly emerged R. dominica adults. Results showed quantitative and qualitative differences in oil composition in due to location. Limonene was the major and characteristic common compound with values of 92.36% and 93.69% for Nabeul and Bousselem, respectively. The fumigant bioassay showed that Citrus aurantium from Nabeul was more toxic and the corresponding LC50 and LC95 values were 307.89 and 652.91 µL/L air, respectively, within 48h of exposure. Our work indicates concern in the use of Tunisian Citrus aurantium essential oils as fumigant protectant against Rhyzopertha dominica during storage.
Highlights
The valorization of Citrus peels from agro-industries is an important issue since Tunisia is known by the production of such crops
Results showed that Citrus aurantium peel oils were toxic to the adults of Rhyzopertha dominica and the percentage of mortality was related to the doses of the essential oils
Our results does not agree with the results of Souza et al [18], hwo are shown that the esssential oils of bitter orange has an effect in the killing of adults of R
Summary
The valorization of Citrus peels from agro-industries is an important issue since Tunisia is known by the production of such crops. This work aims to assess the insecticidal potential of essential oils extracted from the bitter orange C. aurantium as protectant against adults of the less grain borer R. dominica. In many regions of the world, the lasser grain borer, R. dominica, is one of the major pests feeds in quality of grains as larva’s and adults (lose weight and the market value) and they are become generally unacceptable for human consumption [1,2,3]. Essential oil extracted from genus Citrus, have been identified to have insecticidal properties several coleopteran species [7,8,9] whith a variation in the composition of secondary metabolites [10,11]. This research assesed the chemical composition and the fumigant toxicity of the essential oils of peels of Tunisian. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
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