Dysphania ambrosioides essential oils: from pharmacological agents to uses in modern crop protection—a review

The damage to crops and food commodities by pests and diseases remains a major public health concern. Globally, investigations were carried out to develop harmless natural products from essential oils (EOs) and advances were made to meet users’ acceptance as an alternative to chemical fungicides and insecticides. Recently, many EOs have shown potential results against a wide range of plant pathogens and insect pests, and are thus, attractive substitutes to synthetic chemicals. Remarkably, EOs based commercial pesticides remain lesser in number and this opens several prospects for their claim for use in present agriculture. The present paper provides a summary of the current status and prospects in evaluating the efficiency of the use of EO of Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants syn. Chenopodium ambrosioides L. (Mexican tea) belonging to the family Amaranthaceae, in crop protection strategies against plant pathogens and insect pests, considering the opportunities and problems linked with the prospects of sustainable environment-friendly agriculture in the future. In addition, the chemical composition of D. ambrosioides EO from different geographical regions along with the pharmacological application, probable modes of action, and indication for or against the use of this EO as an alternative to chemicals, in several applications have been discussed. The EO of D. ambrosioides possessed potential pharmacological activities, such as antitumor, antiprotozoal, allelopathic, antiviral, immunoregulatory, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities. Most of the chemically characterized EO of D. ambrosioides contained ascaridole, α-terpinene, p-cymene, and caryophyllene oxide as major components, and have shown efficient antibacterial, antifungal, and insecticidal activities against pests and pathogens of economically important crops. Thus, the EO of D. ambrosioides and its major constituents can be utilized as potential botanical pesticides for crop protection after large-scale evaluation.