Chemical Composition and Insecticidal Potential of Six Essential Oils from Morocco against (Cockerell) under Field and Laboratory Conditions.

The carmine cochineal (Cockerell) is the major insect pest of the prickly-pear cactus (L.) in Morocco. The present study investigated the insecticidal activities of six essential oils (EOs) against nymphs and adult females of applied singly or in combination with a detergent under laboratory and field conditions. Under laboratory conditions, and L. essential oils showed a high level of insecticidal activity at 5%, with 98% and 92% females' mortality, respectively, 5 days after treatments. The and oils at 5% applied in combination with black soap at (60 g/L) induced the highest toxic activity on adult females, 100% and 96% at 5 days after treatments, respectively. Under field conditions, and oils at 5% in combination with black soap (60 g/L) showed the highest adult female mortalities with 96.33 and 92.56%, respectively, 7 days after the first application. The double application of oil at 5% significantly increased the mortality of adult females up to 91%, 5 days after the second spray. GC-MS analysis revealed that the most abundant constituent of and oils was pulegone (84.69%) and durenol (76.53%), respectively. These findings showed that the use of and in combination with black soap or in double sprays could be incorporated in the management package for the control of the wild cochineal , as a safe and natural alternative to chemical insecticides.