Abstract
Simple SummaryThe protection of stored agricultural products has been established as a global priority serving both food safety and security. Toxicity and residual issues of synthetic insecticides shifted the research focus towards natural pest control agents. In this context, six edible plants were selected for the conduction of a novel bioprospecting effort aiming to identify potential control agents against the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and the khapra beetle, Trogoderma granarium Everts (Coleoptera: Dermestidae). The proposed bioprospecting effort aims to identify the chemodiversity of essential oils (EOs) and exploit the potential of EO-based microemulsion (ME) coating as alternative tools for the management of the tested stored-product insects and the concomitant postharvest losses. Elevated toxicity was recorded against T. castaneum larvae and T. granarium adults. The fact that these EO-based MEs originate from culinary plants renders them safe for human consumption. The present study pioneers the utilization of EO-based MEs as grain protectants in the form of grain coating.Postharvest agricultural losses constitute a major food security risk. In contrast, postharvest protection is strongly linked with food safety. The present study aims to develop novel postharvest protection tools through a bioprospecting protocol utilizing edible essential oils (EOs) as grain coatings. For this purpose, six Mediterranean culinary plants were selected for evaluation. The EOs of juniper, Juniperus phoenicea L. (Pinales: Cupressaceae), marjoram, Origanum majorana L. (Lamiales: Lamiaceae), oregano, Origanum vulgare ssp. hirtum (Link) A.Terracc. (Lamiales: Lamiaceae), bay laurel, Laurus nobilis L. (Laurales: Lauraceae) and tarhan, Echinophora tenuifolia ssp. sibthorpiana (Guss.) Tutin (Apiales: Apiaceae) were retrieved through steam distillation, while lemon, Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck (Sapindales: Rutaceae) EO was retrieved through cold press extraction. All EOs were formulated to microemulsions (MEs) and applied uniformly as a coating on wheat against larvae and adults of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and Trogoderma granarium Everts (Coleoptera: Dermestidae). All EO-based MEs have been evaluated for the first time as grain coatings. They caused moderate to high mortality to T. castaneum larvae (67.8–93.3% 14 days post-exposure) and T. granarium adults (70.0–87.8% after 7 days of exposure). Citrus limon, O. majorana and E. tenuifolia ssp. sibthorpiana EO-based MEs were the most efficient against T. castaneum larvae, by exhibiting 93.3%, 91.1% and 90.0% mortality 14 days post-exposure, respectively. Origanum majorana, L. nobilis and J. phoenicea EO-based MEs were the most efficient against T. granarium adults, exhibiting 87.8%, 84.4% and 83.3% mortality after 7 days of exposure, respectively. These results indicate that EO-based ME coating is a potent tool against the tested postharvest pests.
Highlights
Food security, under the perspectives of global population increase and shifting consumer habits, is one of the main future challenges for the agricultural sector [1,2,3]
While postharvest pest infection is horizontal across the sum of agricultural products [10], it is elevated as a significant risk for global food security in the case of staple food infections, with cereals and legumes being prominent among them [11]
From the essential oils (EOs) included in the present study, O. vulgare ssp. hirtum and O. majorana presented phenol carvacrol as the main compound, while in
Summary
Under the perspectives of global population increase and shifting consumer habits, is one of the main future challenges for the agricultural sector [1,2,3]. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) provides an alternative perspective of food security by focusing on the postharvest losses of agricultural production which is estimated to be 10% in developed countries and exceed 20% in developing countries [5,6]. The interconnectivity of these two approaches is well established and has been highlighted as a challenge since the Bronze Age [7,8,9]. Similar advances may be traced for insect and mite postharvest pests, focusing on their judicious management [13]
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