Vol. 1, Issue 4, Part A (2014)

Author(s): Ramalingam Srinivasan, Devarajan Natarajan, Sengodan Karthi, Muthugounder S Shivakumar

Abstract: Mosquito control is facing a threat due to the emergence of resistance to synthetic insecticides. Insecticides of botanical origin may serve as suitable alternative biocontrol techniques in the future. The acetone, chloroform, ethyl acetate, hexane, methanol and petroleum benzene leaf extracts of E. indica were tested against fourth instar larvae of malaria vector, Anopheles stephensi and dengue vector, Aedes aegypti. The larval mortality was observed after 24 h of exposure. Highest larval mortality was found in acetone leaf extracts against A. aegypti (LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ values of 2.97027 and 5.9820 mg/ml) and A. stephensi (LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ values of 3.92501 and 68.3250 mg/ml) respectively. GC-MS analysis of plant extracts of acetone solvent revealed 19 compounds, of which the major compounds were -Thujone 1-Isopropyl-4-Methylbicyclo(3.1.0)Hexan-3-One 1- (6.71%), 1, 6- Cyclodecadiene, 1-Methyl-5-Methylene-8-(1-Methylethyl)-, [S-(E, E)]-Germacra-1(10), 4(15), 5-Trie N (3.11%), L-(+)-Ascorbic Acid 2, 6-Dihexadecanoate (4.06%), 2-Cyclohexylcyclohexanol [1, 1'-Bicyclohexyl]-2-Ol (3.16%), Dotriacontane N- Bicetyl (58.7%) and Tetrapentacontane (3.85%). E. indica offers promise as potential biocontrol agent against major dengue and malaria mosquitoes particularly in larvicidal effect. Our results shows acetone leaf extracts of E. indica have the potential to be used as an ideal eco-friendly approach for control of mosquito vectors.

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