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Essential oils: effects of application rate and modality on potential for combating northern fowl mite infestations
Author(s) -
Abdelfattah E. M.,
Vezzoli G.,
Buczkowski G.,
Makagon M. M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
medical and veterinary entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2915
pISSN - 0269-283X
DOI - 10.1111/mve.12300
Subject(s) - biology , lavender , essential oil , mite , toxicology , pesticide , thymus vulgaris , lavender oil , veterinary medicine , botany , ecology , medicine
The northern fowl mite (NFM), Ornithonyssus sylviarum (Mesostigmata: Macronyssidae), is the primary blood‐feeding ectoparasite found on poultry in the U.S.A. Three experiments were conducted in vitro to test the acaricidal properties of cade, garlic, lavender, lemongrass, pine and thyme essential oils against NFM, and to evaluate whether these effects are altered by adjusting oil application rates and application modality (direct vs. vapour contact). Applied at the rate of 0.21 mg/cm 2 , the essential oils of cade, thyme, lemongrass and garlic resulted in higher NFM mortality at 24 h post‐application than lavender and pine oils, and the untreated and ethanol‐treated controls. Cade and thyme were the most consistent and fast‐acting of the essential oils in terms of toxicity to NFM. Cade applied at 0.21 mg/cm 2 and 0.11 mg/cm 2 and thyme applied at 0.21 mg/cm 2 were effective in eliminating NFM within 2 h through direct contact. The modality of application did not affect the efficacy of cade and thyme essential oils. The results suggest that essential oils may be utilized as alternatives to chemical pesticides and could be used as fumigants for the control of NFM.