Exploring Contact Toxicity of Essential Oils against through a Meta-Analysis Approach.

is a primary pest of maize. Our aim was to perform a qualitative review and meta-analyses with 56 scientific articles published from 1 January 2000 to 1 October 2022 dealing with direct (topical application) and indirect (impregnation of essential oils, EOs, onto filter paper or maize grains) contact toxicity of EOs against . Three independent meta-analyses of single means of LD (direct contact) and LC (indirect contact) were conducted using a random effect model. Essential oils more frequently evaluated were those belonging to Asteraceae, Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, Myrtaceae, Piperaceae, and Rutaceae. The LC global mean values were 33.19 µg/insect (CI 29.81-36.95) for topical application; 0.40 µL/cm (CI 0.25-0.65) for filter paper indirect contact; and 0.50 µL/g maize (CI 0.27-0.90) for maize grains indirect contact. The species , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and showed LC or LD values lower than the global means, indicating good insecticidal properties. Our results showed that EOs have great potential to be used as bioinsecticides against