Fumigation, Contact and Repellent Effect of Essential Oil Extracted from Bottle Brush, Melaleuca citrina Leaves Against Tobacco Beetle, Lasioderma serricorne Under Laboratory Conditions

Abstract

Mayhoub, A., M. Oumran and A. Qara Ali. 2026. Fumigation, Contact and Repellent Effect of Essential Oil Extracted from Bottle Brush, Melaleuca citrina Leaves Against Tobacco Beetle, Lasioderma serricorne Under Laboratory Conditions. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 44(1):62-67. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-001380 Tobacco beetle, Lasioderma serricorne F. (Coleoptera: Anobiidae), is one of the most destructive insects in stored food products, and it is desirable to identify environment-friendly methods to control it. The fumigation, contact and repellent effects of the essential oil of bottle brush leaves Melaleuca citrina (Curtis) was investigated to control tobacco beetle adults. A sample of adult beetles was obtained from the Agricultural Quarantine Center in Latakia, Syria, and then reared in the General Insect laboratory of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Tishreen University. Experiments were conducted during the period from April to June 2024, at 27.5-29.5ºC, and 56-70% relative humidity. Different concentrations of essential oil were tested by fumigation and contact, and the results showed that all the experimental insects died two hours after treatment with a concentration of 90 µl/L air by fumigation, whereas spraying with a concentration of 1.25 µl/cm2 killed all insects within 8 hours. The concentration of 0.157 µl/cm2 showed the highest repellent effect among the tested concentrations (86.67%), 2 hours after treatment. Keywords: Fumigation effect, contact effect, repellent, essential oil, bottle brush, Melaleuca citrina, tobacco beetle, Lasioderma serricorne