Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Essential oils and their bioactive compounds as eco-friendly novel green pesticides for management of storage insect pests: prospects and retrospects

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The control of storage insect pests is largely based on synthetic pesticides. However, due to fast growing resistance in the targeted insects, negative impact on humans and non-target organisms as well as the environment, there is an urgent need to search some safer alternatives of these xenobiotics. Many essential oils (EOs) and their bioactive compounds have received particular attention for application as botanical pesticides, since they exhibited high insecticidal efficacy, diverse mode of action, and favourable safety profiles on mammalian system as well as to the non-target organisms. Data collected from scientific articles show that these EOs and their bioactive compounds exhibited insecticidal activity via fumigant, contact, repellent, antifeedant, ovicidal, oviposition deterrent and larvicidal activity, and by inhibiting/altering important neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine esterase (AChE) and octopamine or neurotransmitter inhibitor γ-amino butyric acid (GABA), as well as by altering the enzymatic [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidases (POx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase (GR)] and non-enzymatic [glutathione (GSH)] antioxidant defence systems. However, in spite of promising pesticidal efficacy against storage pests, the practical application of EOs and their bioactive compounds in real food systems remain rather limited because of their high volatility, poor water solubility and susceptibility towards degradation. Nanoencapsulation/nanoemulsion of EOs is currently considered as a promising tool that improved water solubility, enhanced bio-efficacy, stability and controlled release, thereby expanding their applicability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All data observed during current study are included in this article.

References

Download references

Funding

This study was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) [grant number: 09/013 (0678)/2017-EMR-I], New Delhi, India.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Anand Kumar Chaudhari: conceptualization, writing–original review draft, funding acquisition; Vipin Kumar Singh: review and editing; Akash Kedia: review and editing, formal analysis; Somenath Das: visualization; data curation; Nawal Kishore Dubey: writing–review and editing, supervision. All authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nawal Kishore Dubey.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This is an observational study, no ethical approval is required.

Consent to participate

All authors participated in this work.

Consent for publication

All authors agree to publish this article in the Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Giovanni Benelli

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chaudhari, A.K., Singh, V.K., Kedia, A. et al. Essential oils and their bioactive compounds as eco-friendly novel green pesticides for management of storage insect pests: prospects and retrospects. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 18918–18940 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12841-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12841-w

Keywords

Navigation