Effect of Citrus reticulata Blanco Essential Oil on Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens) Adults

Abstract

The rusty grain beetle, Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens), is a major insect pest of stored products worldwide. In an effort to manage populations of C. ferrugineus in stored grains, the essential oil from Citrus reticulata Blanco peel was prepared by the Soxhlet method with anhydrous diethyl ether, and its contact activity, repellent activity, and fumigant activity were investigated against C. ferrugineus adults. C. reticulata peel essential oil had potent contact, repellent, and fumigant activity against C. ferrugineus adults, with activity significantly increasing with increasing exposure dosage during the same exposure time. Percent repellency values achieved >80.0% after 60 h of exposure. For contact toxicity, the corrected mortality of C. ferrugineus adults reached >99.0% after 48 h of exposure at the dosage of 2.0 μL/cm2. For fumigant toxicity, the corrected mortality of C. ferrugineus adults reached 89.0 and 100.0% at the dosages of 40 and 80 μL/L of air, respectively. These results suggest that the C. reticulata peel essential oil has strong potential for managing populations of C. ferrugineus in practice.