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Lethal activity of individual and mixed monoterpenoids of geranium essential Oil on Musca domestica

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Abstract

Plant essential oils and its constituent molecules have been suggested as an alternative to control insect. The contribution of the constituents to the effect of the oil is determined by the interactions occurring between them. Synergistic interactions would improve the insecticide efficacy of the compounds due to the utilization of lower doses. We evaluated the insecticidal activity of geranium (Geranium maculatum L.) oil and its major constituents against Musca domestica L. and studied the toxic interactions in artificial mixtures of those constituents in the natural ratio. While synergistic interactions were determined in house fly in this study, these were of low intensity evidencing that the effect of each constituent was slightly modified by the other constituents present in the mixtures. The search for synergism between components is a strategy to improve the insecticide activity of natural compounds. The synergism helps to reduce the environmental and toxicological impact due to the reduction of the dose of use.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the authorities of the elementary schools where head lice were collected. This investigation received financial support from Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y

Tecnológica (Argentina), Laboratorio Elea (Argentina), and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones de Plagas e Insecticidas (CONICET-CITEDEF), Juan Bautista de la Salle 4397 (B1603ALO), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Anabella Gallardo, María Inés Picollo & Gastón Mougabure-Cueto

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  1. Anabella Gallardo
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  2. María Inés Picollo
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  3. Gastón Mougabure-Cueto
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Correspondence to Gastón Mougabure-Cueto.

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Gallardo, A., Picollo, M.I. & Mougabure-Cueto, G. Lethal activity of individual and mixed monoterpenoids of geranium essential Oil on Musca domestica . Parasitol Res 114, 1229–1232 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4315-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4315-4

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