Estudio del efecto insectistático de compuestos volátiles para el control de Tribolium castaneum

Abstract

Tribolium castaneum is the most common cosmopolitan pest in stored products, classified as secondary to whole grains and as primary to mill products. These insects depreciate the product due to the unpleasant smell and grayish appearance that they generate, in addition to the presence of excrement, exuvies, and the remains of corpses. To control this pest, various insecticides of synthetic origin have been used that are highly toxic, affect non-target organisms, contaminate water sources and the soil, in addition to generating resistance from pests; particularly T. castaneum is one of the 10 most resistant pests. From this, it is necessary to develop new safe insecticides that guarantee long-term control of the pest. This work seeks to determine the insectistatic effect of 15 volatile compounds that showed fumigant activity on T. castaneum, where females and males of T. castaneum were treated separately with the LC 50 estimated in the fumigant model, after 24 h, pairs of treated and untreated insects were formed with the surviving insects, to monitor the number of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults every seven days for a period of 49 days. Of the 15 compounds evaluated: 1,8-cineole, safrole, 4-undeanone and 2-nonanone decreased the reproduction rate by more than 85%. The other compounds present a decrease of less than 70%, said action is related to a mimetic effect that can occur between the juvenile hormone and the volatile compounds, thus affecting the normal development of the insect.The bioassay shows the potential that have the four compounds described, as they cause insectistatic and insecticidal effects, which would allow long-term control of the pest of interest.