ENTOMOLOGY A.A. Isikber et al.

(2006) Phytoparasitica 34(2): 167-177

Fumigant Toxicity of Essential Oils from Laurus nobilis
and Rosmarinus officinalis against All Life Stages of
Tribolium confusum
A.A. Isikber, *'1 M.H. Alma, 2 M. Kanat 3 and A. Karci 1
The essential oils from rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and laurel (Laurus
nobilis L.)
obtained from Mersin Province in Turkey, were tested for their fumigant toxicity
against all
life stages of confused flour beetle (Tribolium confusum du Val.). GC-MS analysi
s showed
that 1,8-cineole was found to be the major component of both rosemary and laurel
essential
oils. Vapors of rosemary and laurel essential oils were toxic to all life stages
of T. confusum.
Only 65% mortality of the eggs was achieved when exposed to a dose of 172.6 mg 1
-1 air
of rosemary essential oil at the longest exposure period (144 h); at the same do
se, the pupae
were the most resistant stage, with LTgo (lethal time) value of 120.2 h. The adu
lts were the
most resistant stage to laurel essential oil, with LTgo value of 77.2 h. On the
basis of LTgo
values, tolerance of the life stages of T. confusum to rosemary and laurel essen
tial oils was,
in descending order: pupa < larva < adult, and larva < adult < egg < pupa, respe
ctively.
Based on the concentration
time (Ct) products (g h l-a), rosemary essential oil
was more
toxic than laurel to the adults and larvae of T. confusum. However, laurel essen
tial oil was
more toxic than rosemary to the eggs and pupae. Since these essential oils need
such high
Ct products to obtain complete mortality of T. confusum compared with the most c
ommonly
used commercial fumigants, it would be impossible to use them on their own as a
commercial
fumigant against stored-product insects.
KEY WORDS: Essential oils; fumigant toxicity; Tribolium confusum; laurel; rosema
ry; biofumigant.
INTRODUCTION
To reduce losses in postharvest systems from insect infestation, synthetic insec
ticides
including fumigants are commonly used, despite known undesirable side effects su
ch as the
chemicals' high and acute toxicity, their long persistence in nature, and the po
ssibility of
insect resistance to some insecticides. Recently, there has been growing interes
t in research
concerning the possible use of plant extracts as alternatives to synthetic insec
ticides
(25). Essential oils are among the best-known substances tested against insects.
These
compounds act as fumigants (27,28,32), contact insecticides (33,34), repellents

(21,30) and
antifeedants (13) and may affect some biological parameters such as growth rate,
life span
and reproduction (26,31). Most of these substances were tested against insects a
ttacking
stored products in order to establish new control practices with lower mammalian
toxicity,
high volatility and low persistence in the environment.
Received Aug. 1, 2005; accepted Oct. 30, 2005; http:t/www.phytoparasitiea.org po
sting Feb. 15, 2006.
1 Dept. of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture,
2Dept. of Industrial Engineering of Forestry, Faculty of Forestry, and
aDept, of Engineering of Forestry, Faculty of Forestry, University of Kahramanma
ras Sutcu Imam, Kahramanmaras 46060, Turkey. *Corresponding author [Fax: +90-344-2230048; e-mail: isikbe
r@ksu.edu.tr].
Phytoparasitica 34:2, 2006

Locally available plants and minerals have been widely used in the past to prote
ct
stored products against damage by insect infestation (10). The flora of Turkey i
nclude plant
species that have for centuries been produced traditionally and used in folk med
icine, some
as spices and additives in perfumes. Many different species of local plants such
as Laurus
nobilis L. (Lauraceae), the laurel, and Rosmarinus officinalis L. (Lamiaceae), r
osemary,
have a long history of use as medicinal plants and spices. The laurel is a peren
nial,
flowering tree, which is commonly found in regions with a Mediterranean climate.
Pestcontrol material may be obtained from leaves, fruits, fruiting bodies and the oi
l. It can
be used as a food and drink for humans, as a repellent, as an antifungal product
and
as an antibacterial compound. The rosemary is a perennial evergreen shrub having
long
needle-like leaves, which is a native of southern Europe. Oil of rosemary is ext
racted
from the foliage and is used extensively for cosmetic, culinary and medicinal pu
rposes.
Various studies have demonstrated fumigant activity of essential oils from L. no
bilis
and R. officinalis against various stored-product insects (3,32,33). Toxicity of
various
essential oils and their volatile components against the adults of the rice weev
il Sitophilus
oryzae (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) indicated that two essential oils, eucal
yptus and
rosemary, had potent fumigant activity (17). Investigation of fumigant activity
of essential
oils from anise (Pimpinella anisum), cumin ( Cuminum cyminum), eucalyptus (Eucal
yptus
camaldulensis ), oregano ( Origanum syriacum var. bevanii ) and rosemary ( R. of
ficinalis ) on
eggs of two stored-product insect species, the confused flour beetle and the Med
iterranean
flour moth showed the highest mortalities caused by essential oils from eucalypt
us and
rosemary (31). The essential oils of laurel and rosemary indicated insecticidal
activity
against Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Silvanidae), S. oryzae, Rhyz
opertha
dominica (E) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleop
tera:
Tenebrionidae), ranging from a lethal dose causing 50% mortality (LDs0) of 7 to
> 15 #1
l -a air (32).
Many plant extracts and essential oils may be an alternative source of stored-pr
oduct
insect-control agents (8,15,32) because they constitute a rich source of bioacti
ve chemicals.
Their major constituents, monoterpenes, are also of interest to industrial marke
ts because
of other potent biological activities in addition to their toxicity to insects (

5,16). Most of
the early studies indicated that essential oils from L. nobilis and R. officinal
is had potent
fumigant activities against the adults of various stored-product insects; howeve
r, only
limited information is available on the efficacy of these essential oils against
the immature
stages. The present study was carried out to determine the fumigant toxicity of
essential
oils from L. nobilis and R. officinalis in Turkey, against all life stages (adul
t, egg, larva and
pupa) of confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum du Val., which is a major pes
t of stored
grains and grain products throughout the world and to discuss the possible use o
f these
essential oils as bio-fumigants against stored-grain insects.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Test insects Tests were carried out on all life stages of T. confusum. All stage
s were
obtained from laboratory cultures reared at 26-/-I~ and 65-1-5% relative humidit
y (r.h.)
on a mixture of wheat flour, bran and yeast (9). Eggs were removed from oviposit
ion jars
by sieving daily. Eggs for exposure to treatments were transferred into 'pits' d
rilled into
Perspex exposure slides, each slide containing 50 pits. When filled, the slides
were covered
with a cover glass to retain the eggs (20). Two slides, each containing 50 eggs
aged 1-2
A.A. Isikberet al.

days, were exposed to each treatment. Larvae were removed from culture jars and
exposed
to the treatments 12 days after oviposition. Two-day-old pupae were obtained by
daily
separation from culture jars and held in wheat flour for 24 h before the exposur
e. Newly
emerged adults were held in pre-exposure jars containing wheat flour, and were e
xposed to
treatment 7-10 days after emergence.
Plant materials and distillation procedure The plant materials of L. nobilis and
R.
officinalis were collected from Mersin Province in Turkey on August 25, 2002. Th
e raw
material for each sample was obtained from the same area. The fresh leaves of la
urel and
rosemary were placed in a round-bottom flask of a Clevenger-type apparatus with
water.
The oil was hydrodistilled for 3-4 h in this apparatus (12). The essential oil w
as extracted
with acetone, which was then evaporated in a rotatory evaporator (Buchi Rotavapo
r). After
extraction, the essential oils were collected in sealed glass containers and ref
rigerated in
the dark at 4~ until use.
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry procedure The percent content of components in the essential oils from both plants described above (11.5 mg, diluted i
n 1 ml
of petroleum ether, Et20) was determined on a Finnigan-MAT 8200 Mass Spectromete
r
(low resolution) coupled with a Hewlett-Packard GC-5890II series GC and a SE-54
fused
0.25 mm i.d.; 0.25 #m film thickness). One #1 of t
silica capillary column (30 m
he
diluted oil was injected into the column. The GC oven temperature was kept at 60
~
for 5 min and programmed to 260~ at a rate of 2~ min -1 and then kept at 260~
The injector temperature was 250~ The carrier gas (He) with a flow rate of 1.15
ml
min -1 was delivered at a constant pressure of 5 kg cm -2. MS spectra were taken
at El
ion source of 70 eV. The split ratio was 1:5. The components of the oil were ide
ntified by
comparison of their mass spectra with that of internal (computer) library, NIST
libraries,
reference compounds and those described by Adams (2). Identification of the esse
ntial
oil was conducted by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID)
on a
Hewlett-Packard GC-5890II series GC. One Fzl of oil sample was injected into the
same
column under the same GC conditions as described for the GC-MS study. However, t
he
split ratio was 1:14.
Bioassay procedures Adults, larvae, eggs and pupae of T. confusum were collected
from
the cultures by using US standard sieve mesh #25 and #70 and placed in 25-ml gla

ss
vials containing rearing food. The glass vials were covered with a fine mesh to
enable
penetration of any volatiles emanating from the essential oils. Twenty-five indi
viduals each
of adults, larvae and pupae, and 50 eggs were used in each replicate.
Preliminary bioassay tests on fumigation activity of the essential oils were car
ried out
to determine the effective doses of each oil. For preliminary tests, the adults
and pupae of
T. confusum were selected since they are reported to be respectively the most se
nsitive and
the most tolerant stages of stored-product insects to the fumigants (14,24). Fum
igation
chambers consisted of 1000-ml glass jars with metal screw-on lids. For each stag
e, a
constant dose of 4.3, 8.6, 12.9, 43.2, 86.3, 129.5, 172.6, 215.8 and 431.5 mg 11 air of
both essential oils was applied throughout all bioassay tests. Essential oils fr
om laurel and
rosemary were introduced as a liquid into the bottom of fumigation chambers usin
g 10 #1
-1000 #1 micropipettes. After the adults and pupae of T. confusum kept in the gl
ass vials
were transferred separately into a fumigation chamber, fumigation chambers were
closed
with screw-on lids, which were made air-tight. T. confusum was exposed to essent
ial oils
Phytoparasitica 34:2, 2006

for 24 h and each treatment was replicated three times. For each treatment, cont
rol jars were
exposed to atmospheric conditions. For all fumigations, relative humidity was ma
intained
at 65+5% at atmospheric pressure using saturated magnesium nitrite (MgNOa) salt
(11)
and temperatures were kept at 26-1-1 ~
To determine the influence of the duration of exposure to essential oil vapors,
all life
stages of T. confusum were treated with the essential oils at a dose of 172.6 mg
1-1 air,
which was selected according to the results of preliminary bioassay tests. Four
or five
exposure times varying with tested essential oils were used for each life stage.
For the
essential oil from rosemary, exposure times for the adult, egg, larva and pupa r
anged from
12 to 48, 24 to 144, 12 to 72 and 24 to 120 h, respectively. For the essential o
il from laurel,
exposure times for the adult, egg, larva and pupa ranged from 48 to 72, 12 to 96
, 24 to 96
and 24 to 60 h, respectively. The procedures before and after exposure were the
same as in
the preliminary bioassay tests.
Data processing and analysis After each treatment, larvae, pupae and adults were
transferred to 200-ml jars containing standard diets and held at 26+1~ and 65+5%
r.h.
until examined for mortality. The eggs in their Perspex slides were held under t
he same
conditions until the oviposition sites were examined for egg hatching. Mortality
counts for
adults were conducted 4-5 days after exposure; for larvae they were based on tho
se insects
that had failed to pupate 9 days after exposure; pupal mortality was based on th
ose pupae
that failed to produce adults 9 days after exposure; and egg hatch was counted 7
days after
treatment. Mortality data obtained from preliminary bioassay tests were correcte
d using
Abbott's formula (1).
Data obtained from each zero dose control and exposure time - mortality response
s
were subjected to probit analysis by using maximum likelihood program software (
POLOPC) (18) to determine LTso (lethal time to 50% mortality), LT9o (lethal time to
90%
mortality) and their respective 95% confidence intervals. Differences in toxicit
y were
considered significant when 95% confidence intervals did not overlap. The slopes
and
intercepts of exposure time - mortality regressions for each tested insect were
compared
with the POLO-PC maximum-likelihood procedures (18). Required concentrations x
time (Ct) products (g h 1-1) to obtain 90% mortality of all insect stages of eac
h insect

were calculated using the LT9o values derived from probit analyses and the conce
ntration
applied.
RESULTS
Chemical compositions of essential oils from the leaves of rosemary (R. officina
lis)
and laurel (L. nobilis) from Mersin Province in Turkey are given in Table 1. The
major
components in the essential oil from rosemary were found to be 1,8-cineole (43.1
2%),
c~-pinene (I 1.58%), camphor (7.67%), fl-caryophyllene (7.44%) and bomeol (6.85%
).
However, laurel essential oil essentially contained 1,8-cineole (54.71%), sabine
ne (9.19%),
c~-terpinyl acetate (6.95%), c~-pinene (5.34%) and/3-p~nene (4.28%). Chemical an
alysis
indicated clearly that 1,8-cineole was the main component of both rosemary and l
aurel
essential oils.
Preliminary bioassay tests indicated that vapors of the essential oils from rose
mary and
laurel had variable toxicity to the adults and pupae of T. confusum when exposed
to their
various doses. Corrected mortality (%) of the adults and pupae of T. confusum ex
posed to
various doses of essential oil from R. officinalis and L. nobilis for 24 h are p
resented in
A.A. Isikber et al.

Table 2. Only a dose of 431.5 mg rosemary 1-1 air achieved a mortality of 94.99%
against
the adults of T. confusum, whereas the rest of the doses of rosemary applied gav
e very low
mortalities, ranging from 0.09% to 14.92%. However, essential oil from laurel re
sulted
in very low mortalities against the adults at all application doses, ranging fro
m zero to
15.52%. Similarly, all application doses of both rosemary and laurel oil against
the pupae
resulted in very low mortalities, ranging from 0.08% to 22.2%. These findings in
dicated
that none of the doses of either rosemary or laurel oil applied against the adul
ts and pupae
at 24 h would be sufficient to achieve complete mortality (except for the dose o
f 431.5 mg
rosemary l-1 air for the adults). Therefore, prolonged exposure times would be r
equired to
achieve complete mortality in the adults and pupae of T. confusum.
Vapors of rosemary and laurel essential oils were found to be toxic to all life
stages of
T. confusum. Probit mortality regression data for the essential oils from R. off
icinalis and
L. nobilis against adult and immature stages of T. confusum are shown in Tables
3 and 4,
respectively. Hypothesis tests for equality (29) indicated that all regression l
ines for the life
stages of T. confusum were the same for either rosemary (X 2 = 252.7) or laurel
(X 2 = 129.8)
essential oils. Unequal probit lines indicate that the various life stages of T.
confusum did
not respond to the essential oils from rosemary and laurel in the same manner.
TABLE 1. Chemical composition of essential oils from rosemary (Rosemary officina
lis) and laurel
( Laurus nobilis)
Components of R. o~cinalis Content in vol.-% of Components of L. Contentin vol.% of
components 4- SD nobilis components 4- SD
1,8-cineole 43.124-0.15 1,8-cineole 54.714-0.13
c~-pinene 11.584-0.09 Sabinene 9.194-0.09
Camphor 7.674-0.07 a-terpinyl acetate 6.954-0.01
/3-caryophyllene 7.444-0.07 a-pinene 5.344-0.12
Borneol 6.854-0.14 /3-pinene 4.284-0.005
Myrcene 3.974-0.02 p-cymene 3.044-0.02
Camphene 3.014-0.01 Terpinen-4-ol 2.604-0.02
/3-pinene 2.544-0.09 a-terpineol 1.904-0.03
o~-terpineol 2.354-0.04 "y-terpinene 0.904-0.004
p-cymene 1.774-0.02
Bornyl acetate 1.474-0.11
a-humulene 1.094-0.02
Toxicity data for essential oil from rosemary and laurel indicate a remarkable d
ifference
in susceptibility between life stages of T. confusum (Tables 3 and 4). The pupa
was the
most resistant stage to rosemary essential oil, with LT9o of 89.5 h at a dose of

172.6 mg
1-1 air, whereas the adults were the most susceptible, with a LT9o value of 37.5
h (Table
3). However, the estimated LTso and LT9o values for the egg were too far beyond
the tested
ranges to be reliable, giving results in thousands of hours. At the longest expo
sure period
(144 h), only 65% egg mortality was achieved following exposure to a dose of 172
.6 mg
rosemary essential oil per liter of air. The LT9o value for the pupa was signifi
cantly different
from that of the larva and adult, since 95% confidence intervals (CLs) of the eg
g did not
overlap those of the larva and adult. The LT90 value for the larva was also sign
ificantly
different from that of the adult, since 95% CLs did not overlap. The order of to
lerance of
the stages at both LTso and LTao was: pupa > larva > adult.
Phytoparasitica 34:2, 2006

TABLE 2. Corrected mortality (%) of the adults and pupae (n=90) of Tribolium con
fusum exposed
to various doses of rosemary (Rosemary of/icinalis) and laurel (Laurus nobilis)
essential oils for 24 h
Application dose
Corrected mortality (%)
(mg 1-1)
Rosemary
Laurel
Adult Pupa
Adult Pupa
4.3 0.09 0
0 0
8.6 1.67 0 0 0
a12.9 1.67 0 0 0
43.2 1.67 0
0.03 0
86.3 6.75 0
1.78 0
129.5 14.9 0.8
3.45 0
172.6 15.5 1.67
8.98 22.2
215.8 12.8 5.5
8.62 16.7
431.5 95.0 18.3
15.52 11.1
TABLE 3. LTso and LT9o values for all life stages of Tribolium confusum exposed
to a dose of 172.6
mg 1-1 air of rosemary (Rosemary officinaIis) essential oil
Life stage n z Slope4-SE LT5o (h) (fiducial
limits) u
Egg w 500
Larva 300 4.894-0.83 31.64
(25.38-36.98)
Pupa 300 7.194- 1.49 59.38
(48.98-67.52)
Adult 240 6.914-0.96 24.49
(21.61-27.02)
~Number of individuals treated, excluding controls.
UThe 95% confidence range is given in parentheses.
LT9o (h) (fiducial
limits) u
H ~
57.89
(49.14-74.29)
89.49

(78.15-112.99)
37.54
(33.81-43.43)
0.91
0.82
0.76
ZHeterogeneity factor, chi-square/degrees of freedom (chi-square is significant,
P<0.05).
WEstimated LT5o and LT9o values were too far beyond the tested exposure range to
be reliable.
TABLE 4. LTso and LTgo values for all life stages of Tribolium confusum exposed
to a dose of 172.6
mg l- 1 air of laurel (Laurus nobilis) essential oil
Life stage n z Slope4-SE
LTso (h) LTgo (h) H z
(fiducial (fiducial
limits)U limits)Y
Egg 500 8.334-1.23 39.87 56.82 0.96
(35.58-43.39) (52.05-64.29)
Larva 300 10.984-2.56 58.98 77.17 0.29
(52.48-63.79) (70.40-93.77)
Pupa 300 5.274-1.09 22.47 39.32 0.15
(16.91-26.78) (32.99-52.28)
Adult 240 14.394-2.58 54.78 67.25 0.64
(51.82-57.58) (63.06-75.55)
ZNumber of individuals treated, excluding controls.
~The 95% confidence range is given in parentheses.
ZHeterogeneity factor, chi-square/degrees of freedom (chi-square is significant,
P<0.05).
A.A. lsikber et aL

and from various plant parts can be different in chemical composition. Andronika
shvilli
and Reichmuth (3) reported laurel essential oil extracted from its leaves collec
ted from
samples taken in Georgia essentially contained 1,8-cineole (40.74%), a-terpinyl
acetate
(17.81%), sabinene (5.72%), a-pinene (4.86%) and 3-pinene (3.17%). However, the
chemical composition and content of the main compounds of essential oils extract
ed from
the leaves of L. nobilis in this study differed from that reported by Andronikas
hvilli and
Reichmuth (3). This indicates that the chemical composition of essential oils fr
om different
geographical areas varies.
Due to their high volatility, many plant extracts and essential oils have fumiga
nt action
(5,32). The results in the present study indicated that rosemary and laurel esse
ntial oils
had fumigant toxicity against all life stages of T. confusum. However, both rose
mary
and laurel essential oils differed markedly in the susceptibility to them among
the life
stages of T. confusum. The eggs and pupae were the most resistant stages to rose
mary
essential oil, whereas larvae and adults were the most resistant stages to laure
l essential
oil. Comparison of the results presented here with earlier studies on fumigant a
ctivity
of rosemary essential oils against the adults and immature stages of various sto
redproduct insects (3,17,22,23,33) showed similar findings. Papachristos and Stamop
oulos
(23) reported the pupae of A. obtectus appeared to be more tolerant than the lar
vae to
rosemary essential oil vapors. A higher toxic effect of rosemary essential oil v
apor has
been described also for the adult stage of O. surinamensis, S. oryzae, R. domini
ca and T.
castaneum (17,32). Similar to our results, Tunq et al. (33) found that essential
oil from
rosemary had a low toxicity to the eggs of T. confusum and Ephestia kuehniella Z
eller
(Lepidoptera: Phycitidae) and achieved a maximum mortality of only 65% in T. con
fusum
and 24% in E. kuehniella.
The insecticidal properties of rosemary and laurel essential oils were reported
from
studies (22,32) examining mortality of S. oryzae, Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say)
(Coleoptera: Bruchidae), R. dominica, T. castaneum and O. surinamensis. The toxicity of
the
essential oils from R. officinalis and L. nobilis is generally attributed to 1,8
-cineole (5,17),
the volatile compound which was found to be the primary component of these oils
in our
chemical analysis. Likewise, Lee et al. (17) reported that treatment of S. oryze
a with 1,8-

cineole, limonene and c~-pinene indicated 1,8-cineole to be most active (LDs0 =

23.5 #1 1-1
air). These authors also reported that cineole, I-fenchone and pulegone at 50 #g
m1-1 air
caused 100% mortality in S. oryzae, T. castaneum and R. dominica and may be suit
able as
fumigants or vapor-phase insecticides because of their high volatility, fumigati
on efficacy,
and safety. The high fumigant toxicity of 1,8-cineole indicates that this compou
nd would
be the principal toxic constituent of both essential oils in our study, and the
main factor
responsible for the insect mortality.
Rosemary essential oil was more toxic to the adults and larvae of T. confusum th
an
laurel essential oil, with its lower Ct products. The latter was more toxic to t
he eggs and
pupae than rosemary essential oil. Papachristos and Stamopoulos (22) tested the
fumigant
toxicity of 13 essential oils including L. nobilis and R. officinalis against A.
obtectus.
Similar to our results, Papachristos and Stamopoulos (22) found that rosemary es
sential
oil was more toxic to both males and females of A. obtectus, with LDs0 values ra
nging
from 2.1 to 3.3 #1 1-1 air, than laurel essential oil with LDso values of 5.7 an
d 10.3 #1
l -a air. The different toxicity of these two essential oils against the various
life stages of T.
confusum appears to be attributable to the differences in the content of the mai
n compounds,
A.A. Isikber et al.

or different concentrations of terpenoid compounds of which the oils are constit

uted. For
instance, in our study it was hard to kill the eggs with rosemary essential oils
, whereas
laurel essential oil had a strong fumigant toxicity against the eggs. The differ
ences in
toxicity between rosemary and laurel essential oils against the eggs is probably
due to a
higher content of the main monoterpenoid, 1,8-cineole (54.71%), in laurel essent
ial oil or
to the action of different chemical compounds in laurel essential oil, sabinene
(9.19%) and
a-terpinyl acetate (6.95%), which do not exist in rosemary essential oils.
Ct products obtained from rosemary and laurel essential oils in this study may b
e
compared with several studies of the two most commonly used fumigants, methyl br
omide
(MB) and phosphine for control of T. castaneum. Whereas MB requires Ct products
of
0.062, 0.059 and 0.168 g h l- 1 to obtain 90% kill of adults, larvae and pupae,
respectively
(19), phosphine requires Ct products of 0.012, 0.047 and 0.056 g h 1-1, respecti
vely
(4,35). Tests on T. castaneum adults with other fumigants such as ethylene dichl
oride and
carbon tetrachloride produced 90% mortality with Ct products of 0.462 and 0.600
g h l-1,
respectively, whereas ethylene oxide required a Ct product of 0.135 g h l-1 to o
btain 95%
mortality (4,6). It appears, therefore, that both of the essential oils tested i
n this study are
much less toxic than phosphine, methyl bromide, ethylene oxide, ethylene dichlor
ide and
carbon tetrachloride.
Although rosemary and laurel essential oils had a fumigant toxicity against all
life
stages of T. confusum with different efficacies, they needed high dosages to obt
ain the
complete mortality of T. confusum compared with the most commonly used commercia
l
fumigants, methyl bromide and phosphine. Therefore, it may not be desirable to u
se
such high dosages of these essential oils on their own as a commercial bio-fumig
ant
against stored-product insects. However, the isolation and identification of the
bioactive
compounds in these essential oils could be important in their potential applicat
ion in
controlling stored-product pests. Further investigations are, therefore, needed
to identify
biological activity components of these essential oils and their possible synerg
ism by
testing combinations of potentially active fractions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to extend our thanks to Prof. Dr. Siegfried Nitz, Hubert Kollmanns

berger and Prof. Dr.

Harun Parlar from Chemical Technical Analysis and Food Technology Institute, Tec
hnical University of Munich,
Germany, for their kind help with the GC-MS study. The authors also thank Asst.
Prof. Dr. E.R. Kttbilay for
providing support for the statistical analyses, Ms. (~i~ek Yavuksuz and Ms. Mtif
riye Baymi~ for their assistance
in general laboratory work.
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