The essential oil of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. as a potential repellent against stored-product insects

Chemical composition of the essential oil from Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. (syn. Bassia scoparia (L.) A. J. Scott) was analyzed in quality and quantity by GC–MS and GC–FID. Repellent activities of the essential oil from K. scoparia (KSEO) were evaluated against two common species of stored-product insects Tribolium castaneum Herbst and Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel. Results indicated that KSEO mainly consisted of eugenol, β-caryophyllene, and α-humulene, accounting for 75.6%, 8.2%, and 1.4% of the total oil, respectively. KSEO and the three major components were repellent to T. castaneum and L. bostrychophila adults. Notably, KSEO exerted significant effects, comparable to the positive control DEET at 2 and 4 h post-exposure. Eugenol at 63.17–2.53 nL/cm2 exhibited high percentage repellency ranging from 96 to 70% against L. bostrychophila during 4-h exposure. To gain further insights into the repellent activity, molecular docking simulation was performed with eugenol as the ligand and an odorant binding protein TcOBPC12 (gene: TcOBP10B) from the model insect T. castaneum as the receptor. Docking calculation results revealed that TcOBPC12 had binding affinity to eugenol (△G =  − 4.52 kcal/mol) along with a hydrogen bond of 0.18 nm (1.8 Å) long forming between them, which could be an important target protein associated with identifying volatile repellent molecules. This work highlights the promising potential of KSEO as a botanical repellent for controlling stored-product insects.