Acaricidal, insecticidal, acetylcholinesterase, and antioxidant activities of essential oil from Piper bartlingianum and Piper goeldii

ABSTRACT Essential oils derived from species of the genus Piper are widely recognized for their diverse chemical profiles and broad spectrum of biological properties, making them promising candidates for various applications in agriculture, pharmacology, and natural product research. This study describes, for the first time, the chemical composition of the essential oil of Piper goeldii, and evaluated the antioxidant activity, inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and the acaricidal (Tetranychus urticae) and insecticidal (Plutella xylostella) action of the essential oils from leaves of P. goeldiiandP. bartlingianum. Extraction was performed by hydrodistillation. The oil from P. bartlingianum had a greater yield. The major constituents according to a chemical analysis (GC-MS) were β-selinene (23.99 ± 0.93%) and iso-caryophyllene (20.43 ± 1.11%) for the P. bartlingianum oil, and terpinolene (20.18 ± 0.96%) and β-caryophyllene (18.23 ± 0.86%) for the P. goeldii oil. Irrespective of the agricultural pest, the oil from P. goeldii was approximately twice as toxic as the oil from P. bartlingianum and also exhibited greater antioxidant activity. The AChE inhibition potential of the P. bartlingianum oil was 1.5-fold greater than that of the P. goeldii oil. Toxicity tests against non-target organism demonstrated that the oils were not toxic to Artemia salina. The results suggest a correlation between acaricidal/insecticidal activity and both DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging in both oils. Our findings indicate that the essential oil from P. goeldii has potential for use as an active ingredient in a product for the control of T. urticae and P. xylostella.