The objective of this study was to evaluate the acaricidal and larvicidal activities of essential oil (EO) from fruits, leaves and flowers of garlic wood on cattle tick [Rhipichephalus (Boophilus) microplus]. The fruits were harvested from May to June (2015) and the leaves and flowers in December (2015). The EO was obtained by hydrodistillation (2h) and identified by GC/MS. Bioassays consisted of Adult Immersion Test and Larval Immersion Test. The results made the following major compounds evident: 2,3,5-trithiahexane (35.29%) in fruits, dimethyl sulfide (42.42%) in leaves and methanethiol (44.91%) in flowers. The EOs from fruits, leaves and flowers showed high activity on the tick larval cycle, presenting LD 99.9 of (0.23 ± 0.01 mg/mL), (2.15 ± 0.11 mg/mL) and (0.08 ± 0.00 mg/mL), respectively. However, when we compared different phases of cattle tick's live cycle, EO from fruits was more active on females' mortality, and EO from leaves was more efficient on the egg hatching inhibition, whereas EO from flowers presented better results on bovine tick larva. Thus, garlic wood (Gallesia integrifolia), a native plant of the Atlantic forest can be considered as a promising natural agent to control bovine tick.

Turmeric or curcuma (Curcuma longa L.) is a Zingiberaceae whose essential oil and coloring pigments obtained from the rhizome have been widely used in the food industry and medicine. This study aimed to extract and identify the chemical compounds found in C. longa essential oil from rhizomes collected in six different locations of Brazil. The oil extraction was carried out by hydrodistillation technique, using a Clevenger- type apparatus. The chemical constituents were identified by Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The principal component analysis (PCA) and the hierarchical cluster analysis (cluster)were done for the obtained data; and the composition of the studied accesses was verified. Three groups of chemotypes were obtained: group I was formed by the accesses of Campo Grande / Indígena-MS, Mara Rosa-GO, Campo Grande-MS and Perobal-PR, and had Ar-turmerone as its main compound; group II, formed by the access of Santa Tereza do Oeste-PR, presented α-costol and α-Phellandrene as the predominant compounds; and group III, the access of Holambra-SP, differed from the others regarding its essential oil chemical composition whose main agents were Curlone, Zingiberene, β-sesquiphellandrene, Humulene epoxide II, cis-α-trans-Bergamotol. The predominant chemical class in all accesses was hydrocarbon sesquiterpenes (Santa Tereza do Oeste-PR and Holambra-SP) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (the others). This study evidenced the formation of three chemotypes

The pet industry is currently expanding and specializing mainly in the field of domestic felines. Problems related to antimicrobial resistance are frequent, and the use of essential oils (EOs) in animal feed has become a novel treatment strategy. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the bacteriostatic activity of Brazilian lemon balm (Lippia alba), lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), and oregano (Origanum vulgare) in bacterial isolates from 12 samples of cat food sold in bulk. The EOs from fresh leaves of crops were obtained from the Medicinal Garden of Paranaense University, Umuarama, Paraná. Cat food samples were processed for identification of gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms. The determination of the bacteriostatic activity of the EOs was performed by determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) at dilutions of 2.5, 1.25, and 0.62 mg/mL. The diffusion disc technique was used to evaluate the resistance profile to the main antimicrobials used in the feline clinic and to analyze the effect of the association of these antimicrobials with the EOs studied. A total of 23 isolates were obtained, of which 16 were gram-negative and seven were gram-positive. As for the oil composition for L. alba, C. citratus, and O. vulgare, 40, 24, and 44 compounds were identified, respectively, with the major ones being geranial, geranial/?-citral, and carvacrol, respectively. Regarding MIC, no differences were found for any EOs tested. The lowest MIC value was obtained for the C. citratus EO (0.83 mg/mL) for two bacteria (coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and Corynebacterium kutscheri). The means of the inhibition halos for the 10 antimicrobials tested in association or not with one of the EOs for Klebsiella aerogenes, Proteus vulgaris, and Serratia rubidaea showed that, for S. rubidaea, the inhibition halo diameter (12.4 mm) was greater (p < 0.05) when amoxicillin was associated with the O. vulgare EO than the association of the same antibiotic with the C. citratus EO (11.0 mm). For K. aerogenes and P. vulgaris, there was no difference in inhibition halo diameter when EOs were included. In conclusion, L. alba, C. citratus, and O. vulgare EOs are effective in inhibiting the growth of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and can be added to cat food to replace chemical antimicrobials.

In this study  the potential bioinseticide of the essential oil (OE) extracted from the rhizomes of the species Curcuma zedoaria (Zingiberaceae) was evaluated. The rhizomes were collected during dormancy (winter) and budding (summer). The EO was obtained by hydrodistillation (2h) and identified by GC/MS. In addition, a multivariate exploratory analysis was done to determine the analysis of the major compounds (PCA). The EO yield in dormancy was 0.61± 0.07 (%) and in budding 0.55 ± 0.08 (%). The bioassays on Aedes aegypti larvae and pupae were done by immersion test at different EO concentrations which ranged from 500.00 to 0.003 mg mL-1 (v/v). The results on the larvae and pupae indicated LC99.9 of (0.01 and 1.38 mg mL-1) for EO in dormancy, and (0.08 and 2.63 mg mL-1) for EO during budding, respectively. The action mechanism of EOs in both periods was determined by autobiographic method evaluating the inhibitory potential on the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, indicating greater inhibition of the EO enzyme during dormancy (0.039 mg mL-1) when compared to the EO during budding (0.156 mg mL-1). The projection representation of the EO chemical classes in both evaluated periods indicated that oxygenated sesquiterpenes are the major compound class (46.99% in dormancy) and (43.59% in budding). The projection of major chemical compounds of EOs presented three compounds with greater mass flow distancing: epicurzerenone (18.20% and 12.10%); 1.8 cineole (15.76% and 12.10%) and β-elemene (4.43 and 0.01%) that are found in greater amounts in the dormancy EO when compared to budding, respectively. These results corroborate with the greater potential on Ae. aegypti larvae and pupae found for the dormancy EO. The results are promising because they show in which vegetative cycle phase C. zedoaria EO presents greater bioinsecticide potential.

This experiment aimed to investigate the chemical composition and the acaricidal and larvicidal activities of essential oil (EO) and fractions from rose pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius (Raddi) leaves against Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. The EO was obtained from fresh leaves of adult rose pepper specimens by hydrodistillation (2h), then fractioned by column chromatography and analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The acaricidal activity was determined by Adult Immersion Test (AIT) and Larval Packet Test (LPT). The concentrations of EO for AIT were from 500.00 to 0.19 mg/mL, and for LPT were from 12.50 to 0.00018 mg/mL. The mortality percentage (%) of female and larvae ticks were obtained by calculating the average ± standard error utilizing the Microsoft Excel® program. The data were submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and compared utilizing Sisvar 5.6 program by Scott-Knott's test (p<0.05). The values of lethal concentration (LC 50 and LC 99.9) and their respective confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by Probit analysis. Bioassays showed that EO from leaves killed 40.00% of the females and inhibited 97.06% of egg hatchability at the dose of 500.00 mg/mL, and high activity on larvae, presenting LC 50 0.0026 ± 0.0004 mg/mL and LC 99.9 of 8.58 ± 0.03 mg/mL. The probable action mechanism of EO and fractions was established by the bioautographic method, measuring the inhibition potential on the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, indicating an inhibition until the concentration of 0.0003 mg/mL. These results allow new perspectives to propose new biomolecules as a way to minimize tick resistance against conventional acaricides.