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The crop-residue of fiber hemp cv. Futura 75: from a waste product to a source of botanical insecticides

  • Plant-borne compounds and nanoparticles: challenges for medicine, parasitology and entomology
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Abstract

In the attempt to exploit the potential of the monoecious fiber hemp cv. Futura 75 in new fields besides textile, cosmetics and food industry, its crop-residue given by leaves and inflorescences was subjected to hydrodistillation to obtain the essential oils. These are niche products representing an ideal candidate for the development of natural insecticides for the control and management of mosquito vectors, houseflies and moth pests. After GC-MS analysis highlighting a safe and legal chemical profile (THC in the range 0.004–0.012% dw), the leaf and inflorescence essential oils were investigated for the insecticidal potential against three insect targets: the larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus and Spodoptera littoralis and the adults of Musca domestica. The essential oil from inflorescences, showing (E)-caryophyllene (21.4%), myrcene (11.3%), cannabidiol (CBD, 11.1%), α-pinene (7.8%), terpinolene (7.6%), and α-humulene (7.1%) as the main components, was more effective than leaf oil against these insects, with LD50 values of 65.8 μg/larva on S. littoralis, 122.1 μg/adult on M. domestica, and LC50 of 124.5 μl/l on C. quinquefasciatus larvae. The hemp essential oil moderately inhibited the acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which is a target enzyme in pesticide science. Overall, these results shed light on the future application of fiber hemp crop-residue for the development of effective, eco-friendly and sustainable insecticides.

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Acknowledgments

Philippe Garrigues and three anonymous reviewers kindly improved an earlier version of our manuscript. The authors are grateful to Michele Grossi, Luigi Corradini, and La Biologica Soc. Coop. Agr. for kindly providing the crop-residue of hemp cv. Futura 75 for studies. Roman Pavela would like to thank the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic for its financial support concerning botanical pesticide and basic substances research (Project No. RO0417). Filippo Maggi is grateful to University of Camerino (Fondo di Ateneo per la Ricerca, FAR 2014/2015, FPI 000044) for financial support.

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Author notes

  1. G. Benelli and R. Pavela contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Giovanni Benelli

  2. The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, 56025, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy

    Giovanni Benelli

  3. Crop Research Institute, Drnovska 507, 161 06, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Roman Pavela

  4. School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy

    Giulio Lupidi, Massimo Nabissi, Riccardo Petrelli, Stephane L. Ngahang Kamte, Loredana Cappellacci & Filippo Maggi

  5. School of Sciences and Technology, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy

    Dennis Fiorini

  6. Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Natural Product Laboratory, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Stefania Sut & Stefano Dall’Acqua

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  1. Giovanni Benelli
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Benelli, G., Pavela, R., Lupidi, G. et al. The crop-residue of fiber hemp cv. Futura 75: from a waste product to a source of botanical insecticides. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 10515–10525 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0635-5

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