Abstract
Termiticide potential of six plant derived essential oils and their thirteen major active chemical constituents were investigated for their termiticidal activities against the termites, Heterotermes sulcatus Mathews 1977 (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) using no-choice bioassay method. Responses varied with different plant essential oils and their major chemical constituents at a fixed oil concentration. Among the essential oils tested, strong termiticidal activity was observed with the essential oils of Pittosporum undulatum, Lippia sidoides and Lippia gracilis. Oil was obtained by hydrodistillation for 4 h. Each crude essential oil was subjected to separation over SiO2 soaked with AgNO3 (15%) column chromatography eluted with n-pentane, n-pentane: CH2Cl2 and CH2Cl2 . The obtained fractions were analyzed by gas chromatography/flame ionization detector (GC/FID). The major constituent’s plant essential oils were identified by GC/MS. The constituents thus identified were tested individually for their termiticidal activities against H. sulcatus. Limonene, carvacrol and thymol resulted in 100% termite mortality, after relatively short-time of exposure. However, for the practical use of these components in the field, while agent termiticide, the safety of these compounds in humans and non-target organisms must still be evaluated. Key words: Subterranean termites, terpenes, alternative control.
Highlights
Essential oils were extracted from the following plants: Schinus terebinthifolius, Pittosporum undulatum, Lippia sidoides, Lippia gracilis, Mentha arvensis and Croton cajucara
After extraction using CH2Cl2, the essential oils were dried over anhydrous Na2SO4, filtered and the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure
The obtained fractions were analyzed by gas chromatography/flame ionization detector (GC/FID) and that which displayed purity higher than >95% was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
Summary
By reason of their feeding habits and preferences for relatively undecayed living and dead plant material (Wood 1996), about 10% (Rouland-Lefèvre, 2011) of the. 2,882 described species of termites (Constantino, 2014). They cause significant losses to annual and perennial crops including, palms coconuts, sugar cane, maize, sorghum rice, wheat, groundnuts and cotton (Rouland-Lefèvre, 2011). America is the subterranean Heterotermes, being found both in natural and urban environments (Constantino, 2001). Of the six described species of Heterotermes in
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