Institut für ökologische Chemie, Pflanzenanalytik und Vorratsschutz
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) promotes the use of low-risk pesticides and other non-chemical techniques that have no or minimal side effects on human health, non-target organisms such as beneficial insects, and the environment. In stored-product protection, IPM concepts also aim to reduce chemical control measures and the use of conventional pesticides against pests. This involves replacing synthetic pesticides with alternative and environmentally friendly strategies which could also be used in organic farming and contribute to climate protection. One promising approach is the use of plant extracts, certain plant constituents (phytochemicals), and essential oils, which are known to have both behavior-modifying and insecticidal effects on stored-product pests. The objective of this study is to investigate the biological and toxic effects of selected medicinal and aromatic plants and the essential oils and ingredients extracted from them on important stored-product pest insects. In order to test the contact toxicity as well as attractive and repellent effects of different fennel and Thymia wild types, important storage pests originating from the permanent breeding at the Institute of Ecological Chemistry, Plant Analysis and Storage Protection of the Julius Kühn Institute are offered whole and crushed seeds in side-choice and contact experiments. On the other hand, the insects to be examined are exposed in fumigation tests to different concentrations of aqueous solutions of essential oils extracted from the seeds as well as solvent extracts. The parameters to be measured are attractiveness or repellency of the tested plant material to the insects and mortality after a defined time.The knowledge gained can help optimize biologically-based control of stored-product pests in a variety of ways and advance it as a sustainable alternative to synthetic pesticides.
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity
