Efficacy of essential oils from Zingiberaceae as repellent to maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky) and red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)

Abstract

The efficacy of essential oils from rhizomes of Alpinia conchigera, Zingiber zerumbet and Curcuma zedoaria to repel Sitophilus zeamais and Tribolium castaneum at 0.003, 0.03, 0.15, 0.31, 0.63 and 1.27 µL/cm2 by Petri-dish choice bioassay indicated that the most efficiency was found in C. zedoaria oils (91.5%) followed by Z. zerumbet oils (89.4%) and A. conchigera oils (78.1%). For T. castaneum, A. conchigera oil (97.4%) was the most effective one, followed by C. zedoaria oil (95.3%) and Z. zerumbet oil (93.0%), respectively. Furthermore, the residual of three essential oils were also estimated at 1.27 µL/cm2 and the results demonstrated that Alpinia conchigera and Z. zerumbet oils strongly repelled both insects till the end of experiment (8 days) while C. zedoaria oils lost its repelling efficacy by 50% on day 8 after treatment.