Tobacco beetle (Lasioderma serricorne (F.)) is one of the main storage pests that harm tobacco leaves. The current control methods mainly include physical control, chemical control, and biological control, but they all have their own disadvantages. In this study, 22 kinds of plant essential oils in grapefruit, peppermint, juniper, eucalyptus, myrrh, lemon grass, geranium, tea tree, cypress, citronella, patchouli, benzoin, rosemary, cinnamon, clary sage, bergamot, mastic, ginger, rose hydrosol, cedar, thyme, and basil, respectively, are selected to explore their behavioral responses against L. serricorne adults using a glass Y-tube olfactometer. The behavioral responses results show that 17 kinds of essential oils in eucalyptus, basil, grapefruit, cypress, mastic, peppermint, patchouli, juniper, geranium, thyme, benzoin, lemon grass, cinnamon, ginger, rosemary, clary sage, and citronella can avoid L. serricorne adults, while five kinds of essential oils in tea tree, rose hydrosol, myrrh, bergamot, and cedar can attract L. serricorne adults. Especially, essential oils in eucalyptus and grapefruit can avoid L. serricorne adults at 1 μl/L with the repellent rates of 94.67 and 94.56%, respectively. Meanwhile, 17 kinds of essential oils which can avoid L. serricorne adults are selected to determine their fumigation activity against L. serricorne adults using the Erlenmeyer flask test method, and bioassay results show that after 72 h of treatment, five kinds of plant essential oils in rosemary, eucalyptus, basil, citronella, and geranium show excellent fumigation activity against L. serricorne adults with the mortality rates of 100.00, 95.29, 95.29, 94.12, and 91.76%, respectively, and their LD50 of the contact activity against L. serricorne adults determined using the leaf-dipping method are 3.60, 3.49, 8.90, 6.70, and 7.80 μl/L, respectively. Our results show that plant essential oils could be developed as environmentally friendly insect control agents.

Kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.) postharvest decay is common in China, which can cause serious economic losses to kiwifruit industry. In order to further clarify the pathogen of kiwifruit rot disease in Guizhou Province, the rotten fruits of kiwifruit (cultivar “Jinyan”) were collected, and the pathogenic fungi were identified by isolation and purification, pathogenicity test, morphological characteristics, and analysis of rDNA-ITS sequences. The results showed that the pathogenic fungi of kiwifruit rot disease were Diaporthe phaseolorum and Fusarium tricinctum. Meanwhile, the results showed that all the tested agents had a certain inhibitory effect on Diaporthe phaseolorum and Fusarium tricinctum. Among them, 33.5% quinolone SC had the best inhibitory effect on Diaporthe phaseolorum with an EC50 value of 9.67 mg/L, and 25% fludioxonil SC had the best inhibitory effect on Fusarium tridentatus with the EC50 value of 13.13 mg/L. The results will provide a reference for the control of kiwifruit rot disease.

Kiwifruit is an important economic crop in the world today with a high nutritional value. It can cause huge damage by causing kiwifruit rot disease; however, at present, the control methods for this disease are limited. In this study, the rotten fruits of kiwifruit (Cultivar “Jinyan”) were collected from Pujiang city (Sichuan province), Xixia city, (Henan province), Zhouzhi (Shaanxi province), Meixian city (Shaanxi province), and Bijie (Guizhou province), China, and the pathogenic fungi were identified by isolation and purification, pathogenicity test, morphological characteristics, and analysis of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (rDNA-ITS) sequences. The results showed that the pathogenic fungi of kiwifruit rot disease were Botryosphaeria dothidea and Dothiorella gregaria. Meanwhile, the in vitro antifungal activity of 11 kinds of fungicides and 5 kinds of plant essential oils against B. dothidea and D. gregaria were determined and the results showed that all the tested fungicides and plant essential oils had a certain inhibitory effect on B. dothidea and D. gregaria. Among them, propiconazole had the best inhibitory effect on B. dothidea with an EC50 value of 4.10 mg/L, and quinolinone had the best inhibitory effect on D. gregaria with the EC50 value of 10.05 mg/L. Moreover, the pesticides and essential oils have practical application values for prevention and treatment of fruit rot diseases pathogens.