Insecticidal Activity and Chemical Composition of Essential Oil from Artemisia Judaica L. Against Callosobruchus Maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae)

The insecticidal properties of essential oil derived via the hydro-distillation method from aerial parts of Artemisia judaica L. were tested against the cowpea weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.)(Coleoptera: Bruchidae).The repellent activity assay of essential oil against C. maculates adults indicated that in concentrations of 63.7, 31.9, 15.9, 8.0 or 4.0 μg/cm 2 , the oil reduced egg laying by 92.5, 86.0, 61.8, 42.7 and 12.5%, respectively.Also, the residual-film assay showed that after 72 hours of treatment, concentrations of 50 and 40% were highly effective against the C. maculates adults.The sub-lethal effects of essential oil were investigated on fecundity and F 1 progany by exposing adult females to treated seeds.Both LC 25 and LC 50 of essential oil significantly reduced F 1 progany production compared to the control.The chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed by GC-MS and the resulting oil piperitone (32.4%), camphor (20.6%) and (E)-ethyl cinnnamate (8.2%) were found to contain the major constituents of the oil.This provided the insecticidal properties of the essential oil against cowpea weevil.