Human Consumable Essential Oil Highly Toxic to Pest Tephritid Fruit Flies
| Category: AgricultureBiology and Medicine |
Reference Number: 00664 |
Description
We discovered that an essential oil and its constitutes are very toxic to pest tephritid fruit flies including Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Mediterranean fly), Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (oriental fly) and B. cucurbitae (Cocquillett) (melon fly). Pest tephritid fruit flies directly damage crops and are quarantine species. The insecticidal action of the essential oil or its constitutes is very fast (lethal time of 90% population, 15-38 min) and follows a very steep dose-response relation. The lethal concentration of 50% population mortality (LC50) is approximately 0.1-1% for all the three fly species when they are exposed to the vapor in a prototype apparutus. The essential oil, however, is human consumable, safe to wildlife and the environment.
Applications
The essential oil and its constituents are potential insecticides to control pest tephritid fruit flies, house flies and other pest flies.
Main Advantages
- The essential oil is botanical and has been long used for aroma therapies;
- It is safe to humans, wildlife and the environment; and
- The essential oil and its constituents are easy to produce and are low cost; but
- They are potent to pest flies.
Inventor(s)
Il Kyu Cho and Qing X. Li
Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
Chiou Ling Chang
US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center
Contact Information
Lisa Matsunaga, Licensing Associate
2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 280
Honolulu, HI 96822
Phone (808) 539-3826, Fax (808) 539-3833, Email matsunag@hawaii.edu