Abstract

The genus Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) comprises more than 800 species, mostly native to Australia. Eucalyptus shoots’ essential oils (EOs) are well-known for their extremely high qualitative and quantitative variation in terpenes (mainly mono- and sesquiterpenes). These EOs have a wide range of uses, from the taxonomic characterization of populations based on the chemical profiling of EO chemotypes, to industrial applications, including pharmaceutical and agrochemical and in food and fragrances. In this study, we reviewed the available information concerning the chemical variability of EOs from Eucalyptus spp. assayed against nematodes. Among the most active EOs, those from E. globulus, E. staigeriana, and E. citriodora were most frequently used. EO chemical composition was mainly dominated by 1,8-cineole, limonene, p-cymene, citronellal, and piperitone in varying proportions. Nematicidal activity of Eucalyptus EOs was reported against animal parasitic nematodes, including gastrointestinal nematodes (e.g., Haemonchus contortus), plant parasitic nematodes, such as root-knot nematodes (e.g., Meloidogyne incognita and M. chitwoodi) or the pinewood nematode Bursapelenchus xylophilus, and the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Correlation between EO qualitative and quantitative composition with its respective activity may provide valuable information on the nematicidal specificity of EOs. This knowledge can be useful for devising environmentally safer pest management strategies in the conservation of ecosystems biodiversity.

Highlights

  • Essential oils (EOs) are volatile mixtures, exclusively obtained from plant material by hydro, steam- or dry- distillation, or in the case of Citrus fruits, mechanically without heating [1]

  • We reviewed the available information concerning the chemical variability of essential oils (EOs) from Eucalyptus spp. assayed against nematodes

  • EO contained, piperitone, α-phellandrene, and p-cymene; and E. staigeriana showed a high variability in EO composition, with three EOs rich in limonene and the remaining two EO were rich in geranial, geraniol and methyl geranate

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Summary

Introduction

Essential oils (EOs) are volatile mixtures, exclusively obtained from plant material by hydro-, steam- or dry- distillation, or in the case of Citrus fruits, mechanically without heating [1]. Nematodes are present in every ecosystem being found in freshwater, marine and terrestrial environments, and can be parasitic (parasites of plants, insects, humans and other animals) or non-parasitic (free-living). A total of 17 publications was retrieved reporting on the nematicidal activity of eucalypt EOs [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30] These reports were published in journals dedicated to Parasitology (60%), Veterinary Sciences (47%) and Agronomy (20%).

Chemical Variability of Eucalyptus Essential Oils
Chemical Composition of Active EOs
Findings
Conclusions
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