Potential botanical pesticides from Asteraceae essential oils for tomato production: Activity against whiteflies, plants and bees

• Published in: Industrial crops and products Vol. 109; pp. 686 - 692
• Main Authors: Umpiérrez, María Laura, Paullier, Jorge, Porrini, Martín, Garrido, Melisa, Santos, Estela, Rossini, Carmen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.12.2017
• Subjects: Artemisia absinthium; Eupatorium buniifolium; Safety assays; Artemisia absinthium; Eupatorium buniifolium; Safety assays
• ISSN: 0926-6690; 1872-633X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2017.09.025

•Safety of essential oils against seeds and vegetative parts of tomato plants and beneficial organisms was studied.•At the recommended doses of the E. buniifolium essential oil, whitefly mortality was observed without affecting the crop yield.•E. buniifolium appears to be a good candidate for the development of a botanical pesticide. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) crops are affected by a diversity of pests. Among these pests, the whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and the leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) cause large yield losses. The effects from these insects are often minimized by applying synthetic pesticides, although these have many drawback. To characterize novel tools for insect control, essential oils from two Asteraceae (Artemisia absinthium and Eupatorium buniifolium) were studied for their potential toxicity to beneficial insects [honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)] and phytotoxic effects against tomato seeds and vegetative parts. Our results show that seed germination was affected at application rates needed to control the leafminer T. absoluta but not at rates needed to control the whitefly T. vaporariorum. The same trend was found for honeybee toxicity: the use of these essential oils at the amounts needed to control T. vaporariorum would be not acutely toxic for bees. Finally, an experimental greenhouse trial showed that the application of the essential oil from E. buniifolium at 3% on whitefly-infested plants can cause whitefly adult mortality without affecting the crop yield.