Acaricidal Activity of Sweet Basil and French Lavender Essential Oils Against Two Species of Mites of the Family Tetranychidae (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Two essential oils, namely Ocimum basilicum L. and Lavandula offi­ci­nalis Chaix, were tested for their repellency, toxicity and oviposition deterrence against two tetranychid mites, tetranychus urticae (Koch) and Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein). Fifty-seven and forty-seven compounds, comprising about 96.7 and 95.4% of sweet basil and French lavender oil, respectively, were positively identified using GC-MS technique. Oil analysis revealed the dominant occurrence of the oxygenated terpenes in either oils (91.172 and 64.317%), respectively. The essential oil of French lavender was more potent for E. orientalis than against T. urticae. The ODI of both oils was ranged between (100-80) for both mite species at conc. (2- 0.5%). For both oils, a significant reduction in the total number of eggs laid by both tetranychid species was recorded at all con­centrations used. A high percentage of E. orientalis mortality was recorded for both materials while oil of sweet basil was more effective than French lavender oil in case of T. urticae. The results obtained chemically and biologically may suggest that the dominant occurrence of the oxygenated hydrocarbon compounds (91.172% of oil content) in sweet basil were responsible for the toxic effect