Observations placeholder
Acaricidal activity and repellency of essential oil from Piper aduncum and its components against Tetranychus urticae
Identifier
023834
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Piper aduncum, the spiked pepper, matico or higuillo de hoja menuda, is a flowering plant in the family Piperaceae. Like many species in the family, the matico tree has a peppery odor.
The fruits are used as a condiment and for flavoring cocoa. It is sometimes used as a substitute for long pepper.
Traditional medicine
In the Amazon Rainforest, many of the native tribes use matico leaves as an antiseptic. In Peru, it was used for stopping hemorrhages and treating ulcers, and in European practice in the treatment of diseases of the genitals and urinary organs, such as those for which cubeb was often prescribed
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Tetranychus urticae (common names include red spider mite and two-spotted spider mite) is a species of plant-feeding mite.
A description of the experience
Exp Appl Acarol. 2012 Jun;57(2):139-55. doi: 10.1007/s10493-012-9545-x. Epub 2012 Mar 14. Acaricidal activity and repellency of essential oil from Piper aduncum and its components against Tetranychus urticae. Araújo MJ1, Câmara CA, Born FS, Moraes MM, Badji CA. 1Programa de Pós-graduação em Entomologia Agrícola, Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, Sn, 52, Recife, PE 171-900, Brazil.
The chemical composition of essential oil of leaves of Piper aduncum L., growing wild in a fragment of the Atlantic Rainforest biome in northeastern Brazil, was determined through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
The acaricidal activity and repellency of the essential oil and its components [dillapiole (0.28 g/ml), α-humulene (0.016 g/ml), (E)-nerolidol (0.0007 g/ml) and β-caryophyllene (0.0021 g/ml)] were evaluated in the laboratory against adults of Tetranychus urticae Koch.
The mites were more susceptible to the oil in fumigation tests (LC(50) = 0.01 μl/l of air) than in contact test with closed Petri dish (LC(50) = 7.17 μl/ml); mortality was reduced by approximately 50 % in the latter test. The repellent action of the oil and toxicity by fumigation and contact did not differ significantly from the positive control (eugenol).
The repellent activity was attributed to the components (E)-nerolidol, α-humulene and β-caryophyllene, whereas toxicity by fumigation and contact was attributed to β-caryophyllene. The effect of Piper oil and the role of its components regarding host plant preference with a two-choice leaf disk test are also discussed. PMID: 22415244