Evaluation of Cinnamomum tamala Leaf and Bark Essential Oil as an Insecticidal Agent against Rice Moth, Corcyra cephalonica

Abstract

Corcyra cephalonica (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), the rice moth, a notorious insect damaging grain and processed food products under storage. Its larval stage of this moth feed externally on the grains andits products damaging both quantitative and qualitative. For the management of this insect pest and to reduce its outcomes in terms of losses in food products, several insecticides have been formulated, synthesized and used in various forms. Since these synthetic insecticides affect human environment, health, non-target organism as well as vital life-sustaining parameters of air, soil and water, scientific communities focused to develop green eco-friendly alternatives. In the present study, essential oil from bay plant cinnamon, Cinnamomum tamala (Family: Lauraceae) leaf and bark was extracted by hydrodistillation in Clevenger apparatus and investigated for their potential as insecticidal agent in C. cephalonica. These two essential oils repel the adults inrepellency assay and cause lethality in larvae and adults both in fumigant toxicity assays. These two essential oils reduce oviposition potential in insect and interfere with the metamorphic transformation of larva to pupa to adult besides inhibiting hatching of eggs when fumigated. C. tamala leaf and bark essential oils also cause deterrence in feeding habit of C. cephalonica larvae. In conclusion, the essential oils isolated from C. tamala leaf and bark can be used as an importantcomponent in developing eco-friendly insecticide formulation.