Industrial Crops and Products 50 (2013) 596–603 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products journa l h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Biotoxicity of Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae) essential oil against the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), and its parasitoid Psyttalia concolor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) Giovanni Benelli a , Angelo Canale a , Guido Flamini b , Pier Luigi Cioni b , Federica Demi a , Lucia Ceccarini c , Mario Macchia c , Barbara Conti a,∗ a Entomology Section – Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy b Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, via Bonanno 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy c Agronomy and Agro-ecosystem Management Section – Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 17 May 2013 Received in revised form 26 July 2013 Accepted 2 August 2013 Keywords: Botanical insecticides Lure and kill Parasitic wasps Protein baits Tea tree a b s t r a c t In this study, essential oil (EO) extracted from aerial parts of Melaleuca alternifolia plants cultivated in Italy was evaluated for biotoxicity against adults of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), and its parasitoid, Psyttalia concolor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Tea tree EO was mainly composed of oxygenated monoterpenes and monoterpene hydrocarbons. The three major constituents of this EO were 4-terpineol, -terpinene and -terpinene (35.10%, 17.40% and 10.70%, respectively). M. alternifolia EO was proved to be toxic against C. capitata and P. concolor. Through contact and fumigation assays, tea tree EO showed lower LC 50 values towards C. capitata over P. concolor (contact: 0.117 L oil/cm 2 vs. 0.147 L oil/cm 2 ; fumigation: 2.239 L oil/L air vs. 9.348 L oil/L air). In ingestion formulation, the LD 50 value was lower in C. capitata (0.269% of EO, w/w) than in P. concolor (0.638% of EO, w/w). This study extends the number of effective essential oils against the Mediterranean fruit fly and provides useful information for the development of new tephritid control tools. This could expidite the building of eco- friendly alternatives in fruit fly integrated control programmes, thus reducing the use of broad-spectrum insecticides. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Since ancient times, plant-borne compounds such as essen- tial oils (EOs, hereafter) and plant extracts have been extensively used for medicinal, cosmetic, bactericidal, virucidal, fungicidal and insecticidal applications (Amer and Mehlhorn, 2006; Bakkali et al., 2008; Benelli et al., 2013). Among the Myrtaceae family, tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden & Betche) Cheel, is an Aus- tralian native species. The tea tree EO is considered of remarkable interest in recent years, due to reported anti-microbial and anti- inflammatory effects (Carson et al., 2006 and references therein) as well as its toxic and/or repellent properties towards arthro- pods species of agricultural (Sammataro et al., 1998; Choi et al., 2003; Halbert et al., 2009) and medical importance (Iori et al., 2005; Williamson et al., 2007; Heukelbach et al., 2008; Pavela et al., 2009; Eamsobhana et al., 2009; Callander and James, 2012). ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0502216116; fax: +39 0502216130. E-mail addresses: benelli.giovanni@gmail.com (G. Benelli), bconti@agr.unipi.it (B. Conti). Furthermore, Australian M. alternifolia EO has excellent quality control procedures. The composition of commercial tea tree EO is currently specified under International Organisation for Stan- dardisation standard 4730 (i.e. the EO of M. alternifolia is known as terpinen-4-ol type) thus reducing the potential for variability in oil composition (Callander and James, 2012). Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera Tephritidae), is a ubiquitous frugivorous pest in subtropical and tropical regions worldwide. It is a highly polyphagous and mul- tivoltine pest species, capable of feeding on at least 250 different hosts (Liquido et al., 1990). C. capitata is one of the world’s most economically important fruit pests due to crop damage and eradication costs (Stewart and Johanson, 1999). C. capitata control programmes have long been carried out using conventional insec- ticides (e.g. organophosphates and pyrethroids). The combination of bait and insecticide sprays to control fruit flies has been used since the beginning of the 20th century (Roessler, 1989). However, researches have highlighted the possibility of incorporating nat- ural metabolites such as spinosad into a bait spray (GF-120, Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, USA) to increase the efficacy (Thomas and Mangan, 2005) and this control strategy is commercially 0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2013.08.006