Insecticidal Activity of Lemongrass Essential Oil as an Eco-Friendly Agent against the Black Cutworm Agrotis ipsilon (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract

Background: The destructive insect pest Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a polyphagous species targeting many economically important plants. The extensive and arbitrary use of insecticides has resulted in the build-up of insecticide resistance and pesticide residues accumulating in food. Therefore, it is becoming evident that alternative pest management tools are needed to reduce risks to humans, the environment, and non-target organisms, and at the same time, they should be used in field application at the lowest cost. Methods: In view of this objective, the present study demonstrates the toxicity of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf) essential oil (EO), against the black cutworm A. ipsilon under controlled laboratory conditions in terms of measuring the activity of peroxidase and detoxification enzymes. The chemical components of the EO were analyzed using GC–MS. Results: The results show that after 96 h post treatment, the LC15 and LC50 values were 427.67 and 2623.06 mg/L, respectively, of C. citratus EO on second-instar larvae of A. ipsilon. A slight significance in elongation of the larval duration with LC15 and LC50 value was found with control. By GC–MS analysis, the main compounds identified in the EO were α-citral and β-citral with percentages of 35.91%, and 35%, respectively. The oxidative stress indicates a significant increase in CAT and lipid peroxidase enzyme activity after 96 h post treatment at the LC15 and LC50. Conversely, the detoxification enzyme activity shows an inhibition of CarE and GST enzymes of larvae exposed to LC15 and LC50 values in response to C. citratus EO. Conclusions: The present data show that lemongrass EO has insecticidal activity against the black cutworm, A. ipsilon.

Assessing the Use of Aloe vera Gel Alone and in Combination with Lemongrass Essential Oil as a Coating Material for Strawberry Fruits: HPLC and EDX Analyses

“…One of the advantages of plant EOs is their bioactivity in the vapor phase, which makes them possible fumigants to control postharvest rotting fungi in fruits and grains [33]. For example, lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), one of the important medicinal herbs, belonging to family Poaceae, is known to have strong antimicrobial and insecticidal properties [34][35][36][37][38]. It shows a strong fungicidal effect against microorganisms in fruit juices [39].…”

Biochemical evaluation and molecular docking assessment of Cymbopogon citratus as a natural source of acetylcholine esterase (AChE)- targeting insecticides

“…Insect repellent plants are considered safe and environmentally friendly alternatives for controlling insects, which are vectors to several infectious human diseases. Some of these plants are sometimes used as ornamental plants around residential houses to repel insects and one of such plants is Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass) [ 8 , 9 ].…”

Bioactivities of six plant essential oils against some isolated microbes from an archaeological limestone statue at the Saqqara excavation

“…Thymus vulgaris, Syzygium aromaticum and Cymbopogon citratus EOs were the most active. Based on the authors' previous works, the main compounds identified in the EO of lemongrass were α-citral (35.91%), β-citral (35%) 5-octyldihydro-2(3H)-furanone (9.08%), and nerylacetal (7.84%) (Moustafa et al 2021). Eugenol was the abundant compound found in S. aromaticum EO (99.16%) (Salem et al 2020).…”

“…These EOs were provided by the Natural Oils Department, at the National Research Center in Dokki, Egypt. The EOs were extracted using a Clevenger-type device and hydrodistilled for 3 h (Badawy et al 2017;Moustafa et al 2021). Until needed, the extracted oils were kept in the dark at a temperature of 4 °C.…”