Abstract: Drosophila suzukii Matsumura is a serious threat to fruit production around the world due to its fast spread and wide distribution. Essential oils of four Artemisia plants including A. giraldii, A. scoparia, A. anethoides, and A. annua were evaluated for their biological activities against D. suzukii, aiming to exploit new environmentally friendly plant-derived insecticides. The insecticidal activity of the four essential oils against D. suzukii was determined by fumigation test, repellency test and larval mortality test; the chemical composition of the four essential oils was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The fumigation test showed that the four essential oils all had good insecticidal activities against D. suzukii, and the fumigation activities of A. giraldii essential oil was the best, with LC₅₀ value of 1.421 μL/mL, followed by A. anethoides essential oil, with LC₅₀ value of 3.499 μL/mL, and A. annua essential oil came at the last. The repellent test showed that A. giraldii essential oil was of the highest repellent activities, with repellency indices of 86%, and the A. annua oil was the worst, with repellency indices of 50%. The larval mortality test showed that A. scoparia essential oil resulted in 70% mortality of D. suzukii larvae, while A. anethoides essential oil was the least effective, with only 40% larval mortality. GC-MS analysis showed that there were 82 components in the four essential oils, and β-Caryophyllene, Terpinen-4-ol, and 1,8-Cineole are common compounds in the four essential oils. The above results indicate that the four Artemisia essential oils have the potential to be developed as an insecticide for D. suzukii. This research paves a theoretical foundation for the development of green pollution-free plant-derived pesticides.

Key words: Drosophila suzukii, essential oils of Artemisia, fumigant activity, repellent activity, larvae eclosion rate, GC-MS