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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » Natural Products Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #219761
Title: Antifungal and Insecticidal Activity from Two Juniperus Essential Oils

Author
item Wedge, David
item Tabanca, Nurhayat
item Sampson, Blair
item Werle, Christopher
item DEMERCI, BETUL - ANADOLU UNIVERSITY-TURKEY
item BASER, K. HUSNU CAN - ANADOLU UNIVERSITY-TURKEY
item NAN, PENG - FUDAN UNIVERSITY - CHINA
item DUAN, JIAN - FUDAN UNIVERSITY - CHINA
item LIU, ZHIJUN - LOUISIANA STATE UNIV.

Submitted to: Natural Product Communications
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/19/2008
Publication Date: 1/15/2009
Citation: Wedge, D.E., Tabanca, N., Sampson, B.J., Werle, C.T., Demerci, B., Baser, K., Nan, P., Duan, J., Liu, Z. 2009. Antifungal and Insecticidal Activity from Two Juniperus Essential Oils. Natural Product Communications. 4(1):123-127.

Interpretive Summary: Essential oils of two Tibetan Junipers Juniperus saltuari and J. squamata var. fargesii (Cupressaceae) were obtained by distilling dried leaves and branches. Sixty-seven compounds from J. saltuaria and 58 compounds from J. squamata var. fargesii were identified. Essential oils of J. saltuaria and J. squamata each contained similar ratios of four abundant monoterpenoids. These oils had antifungal activity based on a direct bioautography assay using strawberry anthracnose causing fungi Colletotrichum acutatum, C. fragariae, and C. gloeosporioides. Insecticidal activity was also determined based on serial-time mortality bioassay of azalea lace bugs killing greater than or equal to 70 - 90% adult lace bugs after 4 hours of exposure. Monoterpenes were the putative sources of biological activity.

Technical Abstract: Essential oils of two Tibetan Junipers Juniperus saltuaria and J. squamata var. fargesii (Cupressaceae) were obtained by distilling dried leaves and branches using a Clevenger apparatus. Sixty-seven compounds from J. saltuaria and 58 compounds from J. squamata var. fargesii were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Essential oils of J. saltuaria and J. squamata each contained similar ratios of four abundant monoterpenoids: 44 and 35% sabinene, 13 and 9% elemol, 8 and 7% terpinen-4-ol, and 4 and 17% alpha-pinene, respectively. These oils had antifungal activity based on a direct bioautography assay of Colletotrichum acutatum, C. fragariae, and C. gloeosporioides and insecticidal activity based on serial-time mortality bioassay of azalea lace bugs Stephanitis pyrioides (Scott). Antifungal activity of Juniperus oils was weak when compared with commercial fungicides such as benomyl and captan. Whole Juniperus oils at 1/4 the dosage used against Colletotrichum species were more insecticidal than 10 mg/mL malathion, killing greater than or equal to 70 - 90% adult lace bugs after 4 hours of exposure. Rf values of 0.18 for J. saltuaria oil and 0.19 for J. squamata oil indicated lipophilic monoterpenes were the putative sources of biological activity.