1 ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi; 2 Regional Station, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra; 3 ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh; 4 ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. *Corresponding author email: smnebapure@gmail.com Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 92 (11): 1298–1305, November 2022/Review Article https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v92i11.122746 Essential oils as green pesticides: An overview SANDEEP KUMAR 1 , GAGANA KUAMR MAHAPATRO 2 , DINESH KUMAR YADAV 3 , KAILASHPATI TRIPATHI 1 , PUSHPENDRA KOLI 4 , PARSHANT KAUSHIK 1 , KULDEEP SHARMA 1 and SURESH NEBAPURE 1 * ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India Received: 29 March 2022; Accepted: 26 September 2022 ABSTRACT Essential oils (EOs) obtained from different parts of plants consist of diverse chemical constituents. Most of the essential oils are rich in monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and phenylpropenes. The diversity of chemical constituents imparts several biological activities such as insecticidal, repellent, attractant, antifeedant, oviposition deterrent, disruption in growth regulation, fungicidal and antiviral to these essential oils. Traditionally, EOs are being utilised for management of insect pests both in feld crops and storage. Mostly these essential oils are found to affect insects by inhibiting several enzymes such as acetylcholine esterages, Glutathion S-transferages and also octopaminergic nervous system. They do not show toxicity against the mammals and fshes, due to absence of target site in these organisms. A few essential oils are exempted from pesticide registration and are being used as seasoning agents in food and beverage products. Moreover, these EOs can be a potential “green pesticide” against agricultural pests and support to the organic food production. The main purpose of this review is to emphasize on biological activities of EOs. This comprehensive and critical review will be helpful for chemists to develop more candidates based on these moieties and also for plant protectionists to identify promising EOs as per the need. Keywords: Antifeedant, Antifungal activities, Essential oil, Growth Regulatory, Insecticidal, Oviposition deterrent, Repellent Essential oils (EOs) are secondary metabolites synthesized by plants and play very important roles in plant defense and signalling processes. Synthetic pesticides are being widely used for management of pests to avoid losses both in feld and post-harvest storage. The excess and unscientifc uses of pesticides have raised the concern among producers and consumers about their residue and health effects over the last few years. The world-wide annual consumption of pesticides is around 3 million tonnes whereas annual cost is approximately $100 billion. Pesticide residues are the traces of chemical compounds that remain on or in the crop, water, soil and air and get into the environment as a result of application or by accident and can be found in the air, water and soil. To overcome the hazards associated with persistent pesticides and residues, there is need of a novel, highly selective and easily degradable chemicals. The identifying and exploring nature-origine pest control agents could become a possible substitute for the synthetic chemical pesticides and could help in decreasing the harmful impact of synthetic chemicals on nature and mankind. These nature origine biopesticicides could be crude extracts or essential oils obtained from any plant part and are called green pesticides. The term green pesticide includes all natural materials that can reduce the pest population (Mossa 2016). These are derived from organic sources which are considered environmentally friendly and cause less harm to human, animal health and to habitats and the ecosystem (Nollet and Rathore 2019). The green pesticides include involvement of green chemistry during their synthesis process and use of noble and advanced crop protection tools with new orientation of functional mechanism and refer to all kinds of control materials which originated naturally and benefcially minimize the pest population and eventually enhance quality and productivity. They are eco-friendly than synthetic product (Koul 2008, Mishra et al. 2020, Abdelatti and Hartbauer 2020). EOs are originated from the plants and they are volatile in nature with a pleasant aromatic feature and are known to produce a characteristic fragrance and a unique kind of plant scent. These are secondary metabolites of plant.The presence of EOs is varied from leaves to roots of the plant and it can be found in bark, stems, fowers, fruits and seed. The quantity of essential oil is varied from 0.01–10% but 10