Characterizing the olfactory responses of insect pests is critical for developing biological control options and pest management strategies in the field. Such responses form the basis for evaluating interactions between plants and insects, as well as providing evidence to support the use of non-crop plant types in pest suppression tactics. To evaluate the potential aversion or attraction of Bemisia tabaci MED/Q to volatiles from various plants, behavioral responses of adult whitefly were observed in Y-type olfactometer tests (n = 30 individuals per trial, with 3 replicate trials per treatment combination; n = 4230 individuals in total). We quantified the potential repellent effects of the essential oils of Thymus pulegioides (‘thyme’) and Artemisia absinthium (‘wormwood’) on B. tabaci MED/Q. The essential oil of T. pulegioides as well as three of the four major subcomponents tested (thymol 36.18%, p-Cymene 10.85% and thymol methyl ether 7.45%, but not Carvacrol 13.43%) had significant repellent effects on B. tabaci MED/Q. Similarly, the essential oil of A. absinthium, as well as the two major subcomponents tested (Linalool 23.41% and (−)-β-Pinene 27.88%), had marginally significant repellent effects on B. tabaci MED/Q. In tests across increasing concentrations of these volatile compounds, repellent effects were typically only significant at the two highest concentrations tested. Overall, these results demonstrate that major constituents of certain aromatic plant oils have a strong repellent effect and contact toxicity on B. tabaci MED/Q. These findings have important implications for more environmentally friendly biological control options using aromatic plants to repel target pests in production crops.

表征害虫的嗅觉反应对于开发该领域的生物控制方案和害虫管理策略至关重要。这种反应构成了评估植物和昆虫之间相互作用的基础，并提供了支持在害虫抑制策略中使用非作物植物类型的证据。为了评估烟粉虱MED/Q 对来自各种植物的挥发物的潜在厌恶或吸引，在 Y 型嗅觉计测试中观察到成年粉虱的行为反应（ 每次试验n = 30 个人，每个处理组合进行 3 次重复试验；n  =共 4230 人）。我们量化了百里香精油的潜在驱虫效果('thyme') 和Artemisia absinthium ('艾草') on B. tabaci MED/Q。精油T. pulegioides以及三个测试的四个主要子组件（百里酚36.18％，p -Cymene 10.85％和百里酚甲基醚7.45％，但不香芹酚13.43％）对显著排斥作用烟粉虱MED /问。同样，苦艾精油以及测试的两个主要子成分（芳樟醇 23.41% 和 (-)-β-蒎烯 27.88%）对烟粉虱具有轻微的驱避作用医学/Q。在这些挥发性化合物浓度不断增加的测试中，驱虫效果通常仅在测试的两个最高浓度下才显着。总体而言，这些结果表明某些芳香植物油的主要成分对烟粉虱MED/Q具有很强的驱避作用和接触毒性。这些发现对于使用芳香植物驱除生产作物中的目标害虫的更环保的生物控制选择具有重要意义。