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Adulticidal and repellent properties of indigenous plant extracts against Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

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Abstract

Several diseases are associated to the mosquito–human interaction. Mosquitoes are the carriers of severe and well-known illnesses such as malaria, arboviral encephalitis, dengue fever, chikunguniya fever, West Nile virus, and yellow fever. These diseases produce significant morbidity and mortality in humans and livestock around the world. The adulticidal and repellent activities of crude hexane, ethyl acetate, benzene, chloroform, and methanol extracts of leaf of Eclipta alba and Andrographis paniculata were assayed for their toxicity against two important vector mosquitoes, viz., Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae). The adult mortality was observed after 24 h of exposure. All extracts showed moderate adulticide effects; however, the highest adult mortality was found in methanol extract of A. paniculata against the adults of C. quinquefasciatus and A. aegypti with the LC50 and LC90 values were 149.81, 172.37 ppm and 288.12, 321.01 ppm, respectively. The results of the repellent activity of hexane, ethyl acetate, benzene, chloroform, and methanol extract of E. alba and A. paniculata plants at three different concentrations of 1.0, 2.5, and 5.0 mg/cm2 were applied on skin of forearm in man and exposed against adult female mosquitoes. In this observation, these two plant crude extracts gave protection against mosquito bites without any allergic reaction to the test person, and also, the repellent activity is dependent on the strength of the plant extracts. These results suggest that the leaf solvent plant extracts have the potential to be used as an ideal ecofriendly approach for the control of mosquitoes. This is the first report on the mosquito adulticidal and repellent activities of the reported E. alba and A. paniculata plants.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Department of Science and Technology (DST, SERC-Fast Track Young Scientist Project), New Delhi, India, for providing financial assistance for the present investigation. They are grateful to Dr. (Mrs.) Selvi Sabhanayakam, Professor and Head of the Department of Zoology, Annamalai University for the laboratory facilities provided. We also acknowledge the cooperation of staff members of the VCRC (ICMR), Pondicherry.

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  1. Division of Vector Biology and Phytochemistry, Department of Zoology, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India

    Marimuthu Govindarajan & Rajamohan Sivakumar

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Govindarajan, M., Sivakumar, R. Adulticidal and repellent properties of indigenous plant extracts against Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae). Parasitol Res 110, 1607–1620 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-011-2669-9

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