Dziągwa-Becker, M.; Oleszek, M. Is the Biopesticide from Tea Tree Oil an Effective and Low-Risk Alternative to Chemical Pesticides? A Critical Review. Molecules2024, 29, 3248.
Dziągwa-Becker, M.; Oleszek, M. Is the Biopesticide from Tea Tree Oil an Effective and Low-Risk Alternative to Chemical Pesticides? A Critical Review. Molecules 2024, 29, 3248.
Dziągwa-Becker, M.; Oleszek, M. Is the Biopesticide from Tea Tree Oil an Effective and Low-Risk Alternative to Chemical Pesticides? A Critical Review. Molecules2024, 29, 3248.
Dziągwa-Becker, M.; Oleszek, M. Is the Biopesticide from Tea Tree Oil an Effective and Low-Risk Alternative to Chemical Pesticides? A Critical Review. Molecules 2024, 29, 3248.
Abstract
The use of chemical pesticides in agriculture contributes to soil, water and air pollution, biodiversity loss and can harm non-target species. The European Commission has already established a Harmonized Risk Indicator to quantify the progress in reducing the risks linked to pesticides. Therefore, there is an increasing need to promote biopesticides or so-called low-risk pesticides (LRP). Extract from Melaleuca alternifolia – tea tree oil (TTO) is known for its antiseptic, antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. Tea tree oil has been extensively studied in pest management as well as in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry and there are already products based on its active substances on the market. This review focuses on the overall evaluation of tea tree oil in terms of effectiveness and safety as a biopesticide for the first time. The collected data can be an added value for further evaluation of tea tree oil in terms of the authorization extension as a fungicide in 2026.
Keywords
tea tree oil; biopesticides; low risk pesticides; fungicide; tea tree extract
Subject
Chemistry and Materials Science, Biomaterials
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.