Contact and Repellant Activities of Zerumbone and Its Analogues from the Essential Oil of Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Smith against Lasioderma serricorne

Abstract

The contact toxicity and repellent activities of the essential oil extracted from the rhizomes of Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Smith (Zingiberaceae) was evaluated against cigarette beetles (Lasioderma serricorne). The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation was investigated by GC-FID and GC-MS. The main constituents of the essential oil were zerumbone (40.2%), α-caryophyllene (8.6%), humulene epoxide II (7.3%), camphene (5.9%) and fenchene (4.7%). Zerumbone and its analogues totally are accounting for 60.3% of the essential oil. It was found that the essential oil possessed contact toxicity against L. serricorne adults with a LD₅₀ value of 48.3 µg/adult. α-Caryophyllene (LD₅₀ = 13.1 µg/adult) exhibited stronger contact toxicity against L. serricorne than humulene oxide (LD₅₀ = 31.2 µg/adult), β-caryophyllene (LD₅₀ = 35.5 µg/adult) and zerumbone (LD₅₀ = 42.4 µg/adult). Moreover, α-caryophyllene possessed strong repellent activity (Class IV and V, respectively) against the beetles at 78.63 nL/cm², after 2 and 4 h treatment. The results indicate that zerumbone and its analogues might be developed into natural insecticides or repellents for control of cigarette beetles, but their bioactivities are affected by their structures.