Chemical Composition and Larvicidal Properties of Essential Oils from Wild and Cultivated L., an Endemic Plant in Morocco.

The Asteraceae family is well known for its toxic and repellent activity against mosquitoes. In this study, essential oils (EOs) extracted from the aerial parts of both wild and cultivated L. plants were tested for larvicidal activity against (Diptera: Culicidae), a pest mosquito widely suspected to be the vector responsible for West Nile virus transmission. The research aims at comparing the chemical composition and insecticidal activity of cultivated and wild EOs. The EOs were obtained by hydrodistillation from the plant's aerial parts and were analyzed using GC-MS. Furthermore, the larviciding experiment was carried out following the standard WHO protocol. The result showed that wild and cultivated plant EOs differed only quantitatively, while the qualitative profile revealed a nearly identical chemical composition. Camphor (18.98%), car-3-en-5-one (11.25%), thujone (6.36%), chrysanthenone (6.24%), filifolone (4.56%), and borneol (3.56%) dominate the wild plant EO. Camphor (21.01%), car-3-en-5-one (17%), chrysanthenone (10.15%), filifolone (7.90%), borneol (3.38%), and thujone (3.08%) are the major compounds of the cultivated plant. Cultivation did not affect the EO production since the yield of the cultivated plant was 0.5 ± 0.1% and 0.6 ± 0.2% for the wild plant. The cultivated EO had the highest insecticidal activity (LC = 9.79 g/ml), and no significant difference was noticed between wild and cultivated A. EO in terms of LC. These findings could pave the way for a new method of producing biocides to control major disease vectors and offer a potential alternative for pest control.