Annals of Applied Biology ISSN 0003-4746

R E S E A R C H A RT I C L E

Plant-derived compounds and extracts with potential

as aphid repellents
S.E. Halbert1,2, D. Corsini1, M. Wiebe1 & S.F. Vaughn1,3
1 Department of Plant, Soil, & Agricultural Sciences, Aberdeen Research and Extension Center, University of Idaho, Aberdeen, ID, USA
2 Present address: Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry,
PO Box 147100, Gainesville, FL 32614-1285, USA
3 New Crops Processing and Technology Research Unit, USDA-ARS, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL, USA

Keywords
Aphididae; Homoptera; plant volatiles;
repellent.
Correspondence
S.E. Halbert, FDACS/Division of Plant
Industry, PO Box 147100, Gainesville,
FL 32614-7200, USA.
Email: halbers@doacs.state.fl.us
Received: 15 June 2008; revised version
accepted: 15 October 2008.
Abstract
We devised a method for screening various substances for possible aphid repel-
lency. Corn leaf aphids (Rhopalosiphum maidis) were released in an arena and
allowed to select paired green tiles coated with petroleum jelly alone or petro-
leum jelly containing 1% of the substance being tested. Aphids adhering to
tiles were counted 24 h later. If significantly fewer aphids landed on treated
tiles, the substance was considered to have potential for repelling aphids.
Fifty-five substances were tested. Most showed no activity, but several includ-
ing b-citronellol, farnesol, geraniol, linalool, oils distilled from several species
of Artemisia and Achillea millefolia (yarrow) oil showed some promise.

doi:10.1111/j.1744-7348.2008.00300.x

(Sulzer) as their experimental aphid. Gutiérrez et al.

Introduction
Viruses transmitted non-persistently by aphids cause
major problems for many cultivated plants, particularly
crops that rely on vegetative propagation. These viruses
often are transmitted by aphid vectors that do not colonise
the affected crops (Halbert et al., 1981; Ryden et al.,
1983), so insecticide treatment is ineffective for control-
ling virus spread. Various types of visual repellents such
as reflective mulch (George & Kring, 1971) and white-
wash paint (Marco, 1993) have been used to suppress
virus incidence through reduced transmission; however,
plants tend to overgrow the mulches and paints can cut
down on photosynthesis. If chemical repellents could be
found, they could be added to an oil spray to further
reduce virus spread. For example, potato virus Y (PVY) is
a major problem in potato seed production. If early gen-
eration seed potato plants could be protected with re-
pellents and oil during the major aphid flight periods,
virus incidence and subsequent virus increase in the
seed supply could be reduced.
Several authors have tested some plant-derived com-
pounds as aphid repellents. Most used Myzus persicae
(1997) tested bisabolene, farnesol and geraniol in assays
using apterous aphids and leaf discs embedded in agar.
All three compounds showed activity, but only bisabo-
lene was tested further because the others proved phyto-
toxic to Capsicum annuum leaves. Farnesol apparently
also may have been toxic to the aphids. The leaf-disc
method allowed testing of the compounds in a tiny
space, but only walking behaviour could be tested.
Bruce et al. (2005) tested the aphid alarm pheromone,
(E)-b-farnesene, and related compounds, including the
oil of an African plant, Hemizygia petiolata Ashby, which
has a high natural concentration of (E)-b-farnesene,
against M. persicae, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) and
Sitobion avenae (Fabricius). Most of the experiments were
performed in an olfactometer, although one experiment
was performed in the field using sachets of H. petiolata
oil in treated plots. There were differences among species
in olfactometer tests. The sachets of H. petiolata oil
showed activity as repellents against A. pisum in the
field. Hori (1998, 1999) tested the effects of rosemary
and ginger oils and several other plant compounds on
M. persicae and some other species known to be vectors

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Potential aphid repellents
of PVY. Hori (1999) showed that rosemary (probably
Rosmarinus officinalis L., but not specified) and ginger
(probably Zingiber officinale Roscoe, but not specified) oils
could decrease the incidence of yellow spotted streak
virus and PVY in field plots. Perforated bottles were used
to release the volatiles from tested compounds.
The purpose of our research was to assess a variety of
potential repellents for efficacy against alate aphids. We
have devised a convenient method of screening a large
number of substances for potential aphid repellency. We
present the results below.
Materials and methods
Various natural and commercial substances were screened
to determine whether they repel alate aphids. We released
approximately 50 winged Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch)
into an arena containing paired treated and untreated
green tiles (Irwin, 1980), each 5  5 cm (Fig. 1). Each
tile was coated with 1 ml petroleum jelly to trap landing
aphids. Treated tiles were coated with petroleum jelly
containing 1% of the substance being tested, while
untreated tiles were coated with petroleum jelly alone.
Mixing and application were carried out just prior to
testing. The arenas were 60  60  60 cm. They had
glass tops, glossy white walls and matte brown floors and
windows on all four sides covered with aphid-proof
mesh for ventilation to prevent the air from becoming
saturated with the substances being tested. In the centre
of the floor, we mounted a vertical dowel 40 cm high
with a release platform on the top. The tiles were ar-
ranged in randomised pairs on the floor (six pairs per
arena). The arenas were arranged in a large growth
chamber with overhead fluorescent lighting.
Figure 1 Arena used for repellent experiments. Approximately 50 alate
Rhopalosiphum maidis were released from a dish on the top of the
release platform in the centre. Each arena had six randomised pairs of
treated and untreated 5 cm2 tiles placed on the floor of the arena.
304
S.E. Halbert et al.
The aphids were collected just prior to use. They were
raised in a large (approximately 1.5  1  1 m) cage con-
taining a robust colony of R. maidis. Healthy spring barley
plants of at least 6 weeks old were used to rear the
aphids. Only healthy active winged aphids were selected
from the plants or the cage walls and top for use in the
experiments.
In preliminary experiments, we tried using several
aphid species, including Rhopalosiphum padi (L.),
S. avenae, Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker) and R. maidis.
Although all the species were easy to raise and produced
sufficient alate under our laboratory conditions, percent
recovery on (untreated) tiles was highest for R. maidis.
We averaged 3.34 aphids per tile recovered after 24 h, or
about 80% of the aphids we released, for R. maidis. Only
about half that many were recovered using the other
species. We also tested several sticky substances, includ-
ing corn syrup, STP
oil (STP Products, St Joseph, MO,
USA), Tanglefoot
(Tanglefoot Company, Grand Rapids,
MI, USA) and petroleum jelly. Petroleum jelly had the
highest percent recovery of released aphids (nearly five
times the number recovered with the other sticky sub-
stances), was miscible with the substances we proposed
to test and was relatively easy to clean up. Thus, the
combination of R. maidis and petroleum jelly was found
to work best under our laboratory conditions.
The substances we tested came from a variety of sources.
Dr Vaughn synthesised some substances (Spencer, 1994;
Vaughn & Spencer, 1996). Others came from commercial
sources. Commercial substances were chosen because of
known repellency towards other insects [e.g. N,N-diethyl-
m-methylbenzamide (DEET)] or because of advertised
efficacy. Others were steam distilled from plants grown at
the Aberdeen R&E Center, Aberdeen, ID, USA, or har-
vested from local wild sources. The amount of oil ob-
tained from a given amount of plant material was
variable, but only the pure oil was used. Garlic oil and
cashew oil were ether extracted from bulbs and nuts pur-
chased at the local grocery store. After ether extractions,
the ether was evaporated away to leave only the oil.
For our own distillations, we chose plants that had
highly specific aphid faunas rather than generalist feeders.
Artemisia species are a case in point. Although the peren-
nial Artemisia spp. in Idaho, for example, have a very
rich aphid fauna (Halbert et al., 1995), all the species are
specific to Artemisia. Thus, we reasoned that plant vola-
tiles from Artemisia spp. might prove repellent to the
generalist species and agricultural pests that most often
are virus vectors in crops.
Aphids were released from a small plastic Petri dish
placed on the platform. Twenty-four hours later, the num-
bers on the tiles were counted and recorded. Although we
did observe aphids stuck to the edges of the tiles, it was not
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S.E. Halbert et al. Potential aphid repellents

Table 1 Mean number of Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) per tile on treated and untreated tiles and probability values for substances tested for aphid
repellency
Mean Number: Mean Number: Number of
Substance Tested Source Treated Tiles Untreated Tiles P Significance Pairs Tested
Achillea millefolia L. Distilled (E. Eldridge) 1.72 3.94 0.0041 ** 18
Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. Forever Living Products 4.11 3.50 0.3726 NS 18
International, Inc.,
Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Artemisia absinthium L. Distilled 2.56 5.11 0.0022 ** 18
Artemisia dracunculus L. Distilled 2.81 4.72 0.0070 ** 36
Artemisia tridentata Nutt.1 Distilled 2.50 4.21 0.0261 * 24
A. tridentata Nutt.2 Distilled 2.61 4.56 0.0039 ** 18
Bay oil IN Botanical Gardens, Inc., 2.83 3.67 0.3335 NS 18
Hammond, IN, USA
Benzyl carvyl ether Synthesised 2.44 4.50 0.0624 NS 18
Benzyl citronellyl ether Synthesised 3.72 3.89 0.8218 NS 18
Benzyl fenchyl ether Synthesised 2.50 4.17 0.1775 NS 12
Benzyl geranyl ether Synthesised 3.33 5.08 0.2157 NS 18
Benzyl pulegyl ether Synthesised 2.67 3.17 0.3655 NS 18
(+)-Borneol Aldrich Chemical, Inc., 4.39 4.00 0.6514 NS 18
Milwaukee, WI, USA
Camphor Aldrich Chemical 4.44 3.55 0.5020 NS 18
Capsaicin KALSEC, Denver City, TX, USA 2.44 4.50 0.1123 NS 18
Capsaicin (98%) Sigma Chemical, St Louis, 4.39 5.61 0.2287 NS 18
MO, USA
(+)-Carvone Aldrich Chemical 3.61 3.72 0.9264 NS 18
(2)-Carvone Aldrich Chemical 2.63 2.54 0.8905 NS 24
Cashew oil Ether extraction from nuts 2.56 2.89 0.6101 NS 18
Cedarwood oil IN Botanical Gardens 3.44 3.89 0.5346 NS 18
Cineole Aldrich Chemical 3.17 2.78 0.7475 NS 18
Citronella IN Botanical Gardens 2.94 3.33 0.5812 NS 36
b-Citronellol Aldrich Chemical 2.06 4.78 0.0013 ** 18
Cyanoethyl pulegyl ether Synthesised 3.33 3.83 0.5721 NS 18
N,N-diethyl-m-methylbenzamide Purchased locally 2.42 3.42 0.2927 NS 24
(100%)
Ethyl pulegyl ether Synthesised 3.33 3.89 0.5550 NS 18
Ethylene glycol pulegyl ether Synthesised 1.83 3.00 0.1100 NS 18
Eucalyptus extract IN Botanical Gardens 2.67 2.83 0.7492 NS 18
(E)-b-farnesene Aldrich Chemical 2.83 3.55 0.2716 NS 18
Farnesol Aldrich Chemical 1.78 4.00 0.0337 * 18
Fenchone Aldrich Chemical 3.00 2.72 0.6881 NS 18
Garlic barrier
Garlic Research Labs Inc., 3.22 2.89 0.7810 NS 18
Glendale, CA, USA
Garlic oil Ether extraction from bulbs 2.50 4.00 0.2371 NS 18
Geraniol Aldrich Chemical 2.61 4.56 0.0210 * 18
Juniper tar cade IN Botanical Gardens 2.50 3.89 0.1137 NS 18
Lavandula angustifolia Miller Distilled 2.94 3.50 0.4886 NS 18
D-Linalool Aldrich Chemical 2.28 4.83 0.0396 * 18
Melaleuca alternifolia Tri-K Industries, Northvale, 2.58 4.38 0.0343 * 24
(Maiden and Betche) Cheel NJ, USA
Mentha spicata L. Distilled (E. Eldridge) 3.06 2.67 0.4930 NS 18
Methyl pulegyl ether Synthesised 4.05 3.56 0.3523 NS 18
Menthol Aldrich Chemical 3.33 3.44 0.8685 NS 18
L-Menthone Aldrich Chemical 4.05 2.72 0.2431 NS 18
2-Nitropropyl pulegyl ether Synthesised 3.56 3.83 0.6392 NS 18
Pennyroyal IN Botanical Gardens 3.44 3.55 0.8303 NS 18
Pennyroyal Distilled 2.72 4.11 0.1897 NS 18
(+)-Pulegone Aldrich Chemical 3.39 3.67 0.8325 NS 18
Pulegyl citronellyl ether Synthesised 3.63 4.00 0.5675 NS 18
Pulegyl alcohol Synthesised 2.08 4.58 0.0341 * 12
Salicylaldehyde Aldrich Chemical 3.44 3.00 0.6268 NS 18
Tagetes sp. 1 Distilled 3.33 3.56 0.6823 NS 18

Ann Appl Biol 154 (2009) 303–307 ª 2008 The Authors 305
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Potential aphid repellents
Table 1 Continued
Mean Number:
Substance Tested Source Treated Tiles
Tagetes sp. 2 Distilled 2.94
Tanacetum vulgare L. 1 Distilled 4.67
T. vulgare L. 2 Distilled 3.17
Tridecanone Aldrich Chemical 2.89
NS, not significant.
*P < 0.05.
**P < 0.01.
possible to determine if they walked or flew to their death
on the tiles. The behaviour of R. maidis is such that they
all flew to escape the Petri dish from which they were
released. They crawled to the rim of the dish and began
to fly. The few that could not fly out of the dish were
observed in the dish (usually dead) when we did the
counts. The data were analysed using a paired t-test
(SAS). If significantly fewer aphids landed on treated
tiles, the substance was deemed to have potential effi-
cacy as an aphid repellent.
Results and discussion
Most of the substances tested showed no efficacy as re-
pellents, but several including b-citronellol, oils from seve-
ral species of Artemisia, farnesol, geraniol, linalool, and
Achillea millefolia (yarrow) oil showed some promise
(Table 1). Most of the substances were colourless, so the
repellency was likely because of the volatiles; however,
Artemisia absinthium oil is blood red and A. millefolia oil is
blue, so repellency may have had a visual component in
those two cases.
Many terpenoids have been shown to act as insect feed-
ing/oviposition deterrents and often are toxic at higher lev-
els. Raffa et al. (1985) demonstrated that monoterpenes
present in Grand fir [Abies grandis (Douglas) Lindl.] were
toxic as volatiles to the fir engraver beetle (Scotylus ven-
tralis LeConte), with limonene being the most inhibitory.
Hwang et al. (1985) found that the mugwort (Artemisia
vulgaris L.) contains volatile insect repellents against the
yellow fever mosquito [Aedes aegypti (L.)]. The most active
compounds were ()-linalool, ()-camphor, (+)-camphor,
(2)-camphor, isoborneol, (2)-borneol, terpinen-4-ol and
isobornyl acetate, all of which are oxygenated mono-
terpenes. The non-oxygenated compounds b-pinene, myr-
cene, a-terpinene, (+)-limonene were considerably less
repellent to the mosquitoes. Interestingly, all the mono-
terpenes that were active in our studies were oxygenated
monoterpenes, although other researchers have found
that non-oxygenated monoterpenes also were inhibitory.
Park et al. (2005) demonstrated that several monoterpenes
repelled the mosquito Culex pipiens pallens Coquillett, with
306
S.E. Halbert et al.
Mean Number: Number of
Untreated Tiles P Significance Pairs Tested
3.33 0.6525 NS 18
4.00 0.5007 NS 6
3.67 0.6376 NS 18
2.78 0.7873 NS 18
the non-oxygenated monoterpene a-terpinene being more
repellent than the commercial repellent DEET. The oxy-
genated monoterpene verbenone strongly suppressed
feeding by the pine weevil, Hylobius abietis L. (Lindgren
et al., 1996). Ricci et al. (2006) found that lemongrass [Cym-
bopogon citratus (D. C. ex Nees) Stapf.] oil, which consists
primarily of the monoterpenes citral, geraniol and myr-
cene, effectively repelled the Russian wheat aphid, Diur-
aphis noxia (Mordvilko). Geraniol also showed some
efficacy in our experiments. Myrcene and citral were not
tested in this study.
Hori (1998), Gabrys et al. (2005) and Bruce et al.
(2005) found efficacy with linalool, but the response may
vary with species. All the three studies found that linal-
ool repelled M. persicae, but it had no efficacy on S. avenae
(Bruce et al. (2005) or Neotoxoptera formosana (Takahashi)
(Hori, 1998). In our experiments, (E)-b-farnesene, the
aphid alarm pheromone, had no effect, but farnesol had
statistically significant efficacy. Farnesol also was very
effective in experiments by Gutiérrez et al. (1997).
Gabrys et al. (2005) found differences between isomers
of some compounds, including pulegone, which we also
tested. We found no activity but did not test R and S iso-
mers separately.
Our method makes it relatively easy to screen a large
number of substances for potential repellency for alate
aphids; however, further testing is needed to determine
whether the putative aphid repellents have any effect in
protecting plants from potyviruses. Similarly, repellents
would have to be tested for longevity under field conditions.
It is intriguing that Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden and Bet-
che) Cheel showed some efficacy. Unfortunately, we were
unable to test Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S. T. Blake,
a noxious weed that causes major problems in the Florida
Everglades. If steam distilled leaves of M. quinquenervia
showed similar efficacy, leaves could be harvested easily
and distilled for an almost unlimited supply of oil.
Acknowledgements
We thank Irene Shackelford and Amy Miles for technical
assistance and Dr Eric Eldridge for use of the mint still at
Ann Appl Biol 154 (2009) 303–307 ª 2008 The Authors
Journal compilation ª 2008 Association of Applied Biologists
S.E. Halbert et al.
Caldwell, ID, USA. Forever Living Products International,
Growth Products and Services and Tri-K Industries pro-
vided free products for testing. The research was supported
by the Idaho Potato Commission and the National Potato
Council. This is Entomology Contribution No. 1084, Flor-
ida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(FDACS), Division of Plant Industry (DPI), Bureau of
Entomology, Nematology and Plant Pathology. We thank
Bruce Sutton, Greg Hodges and Wayne Dixon (FDACS/
DPI) and two anonymous reviewers for excellent advice
to improve this manuscript. We thank Richard Weaver
and Patti Anderson, FDACS/DPI botanists, for help with
the plant names. We thank Dr Michael C. Thomas (DPI)
for help with formatting our photo.
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