GC/MS analysis of essential oils extracted from four Cymbopogon species revealed that the majors compounds were trans-p-mentha-1(7),8-dien-2-ol (21.9%), cis-p-mentha-1(7),8-den- 2-ol (19.4%), trans-p-mentha-2,8-dien-1-ol (9.6%), cis-p-mentha-2,8-dien-1-ol (7.2%), cis-pmenth-2-en-1-ol (7.2%), limonene (6.3%) in C. giganteus; piperitone (68.4%); ?-2-carene (11.5%) and ?-eudesmol (4.9%) in C. schoenanthus, while citronellal (41.6%); geraniol (28.2%); citronellol (12.6%) and geranial (41.3%); neral (33.0%); myrcene (10.4%), geraniol (6.5%) were recorded in C. nardus and C. citratus, respectively.Tephritid fruit flies use both
olfactory and visual cues to seek food and ovipositional resources. Olfactive effects for C. citratus, C. nardus, C. giganteus and C. schoenanthus essential oils on melon fly (B. cucurbitae) were evaluated using a four-arm olfactometer. The results showed that C. giganteus and C. schoenanthus repel mostly the fruit fly B. cucurbitae, compared with C. nardus and C. citratus and that female and male B. cucurbitae responded similarly to odours emitted from all essential oils evaluated. The number of pupae collected from zucchini treated with C. giganteus was significantly lower than that collected from zucchini treated with C.
nardus when exposed to female B. cucurbitae, regardless of the concentrations
