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Toxicity and repellent activity of essential oil from Mentha piperita Linn. leaves and its major monoterpenoids against three stored product insects

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Abstract

The essential oil (EO) from leaves of Mentha piperita was extracted by hydrodistillation. Twenty-one chemical components, accounting for 97.5% of the total oil, were determined by GC-MS and GC-FID. The major chemical components included menthol (41.6%), L-menthone (24.7%), isomenthol (6.3%), and limonene (5.0%). The bioactivity of the obtained EO and its two major components against Tribolium castaneum, Lasioderma serricorne, and Liposcelis bostrychophila adults were evaluated by fumigation, contact, and repellent activity bioassay. The EO showed significant fumigation and contact toxicity against T. castaneum (LC50 = 18.1 mg/L air and LD50 = 2.9 μg/adult, respectively), L. serricorne (LC50 = 68.4 mg/L air and LD50 = 12.6 μg/adult, respectively), and L. bostrychophila (LC50 = 0.6 mg/L air and LD50 = 49.8 μg/adult, respectively) adults. Meanwhile, the repellent effect of the EO on T. castaneum and L. serricorne adults was comparable to that of the positive control at the highest tested concentration. Menthol and L-menthone were two major components in total oil. Among them, L-menthone exhibited significant insecticidal activity on target insects, and menthol showed notable repellent effects. The results indicated that the EO of M. piperita leaves and two tested components have potential to be developed as natural insecticides and repellents for the control of stored product insect pests.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the open foundation of Key Laboratory of Ethnomedicine (Minzu University of China), Ministry of Education under Grant KLEM-KF2019Z02. The authors thank Q.R., Liu (College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China) for the identification of plant materials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Protection and Utilization, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China

    Xue Pang, Yi-Xi Feng, Xiao-Jie Qi, Yang Wang & Shu-Shan Du

  2. Laboratory of Ethnomedicine, School of Pharmacy, Minzu University of China, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China

    Borjigidai Almaz

  3. College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China

    Chao Xi

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  1. Xue Pang
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Correspondence to Chao Xi or Shu-Shan Du.

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Pang, X., Feng, YX., Qi, XJ. et al. Toxicity and repellent activity of essential oil from Mentha piperita Linn. leaves and its major monoterpenoids against three stored product insects. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 7618–7627 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07081-y

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