Acaricidal activity of essential oils: a review

Abstract

The environmental problems caused by the uncontrolled use of synthetic pesticides in crop production around the world has increased the search for new plant species that have this activity. As a result, studies with essential oils extracted from plants intensify because they present, among other biological properties, insecticidal and acaricidal activities. This study analyzes the use of essential oils with acaricidal potential based on reports in the literature, showing the importance of the search for alternative means to the use of chemical pesticides. Studies related to the acaricidal activity of essential oils in 121 species distributed in 25 families, Lamiaceae and Myrtaceae being the largest number of species that demonstrate this activity due to their bioactive compounds and their interactions, where carvacrol and limonene are the most common monoterpenes cited.