Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF LARVICIDAL EFFICACY OF TROPICAL PLANTS PARTHENIUM HYSTEROPHORUS, HYPTIS SUAVEOLENS AND MENTHA ARVENSIS AQUEOUS LEAF EXTRACTS AGAINST MOSQUITO AEDES AEGYPTI

Sanjeev Kumar and Sushil Kumar*

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Abstract

Aedes aegypti spreads many dangerous and fatal illnesses like yellow fever, chikungunya and dengue fever. Several tropical plants contain eco-friendly, bioactive molecules act as a valuable supply of alternative mosquito control treatment including specific target insects. Therefore, the larvicidal effectiveness of three tropical plants - pignut (Hyptis suaveolens), carrot grass (Parthenium hysterophorus), and corn mint (Mentha arvensis) against mosquito larvae particularly second and third instars has been evaluated in the current study using aqueous leaf extracts. The fresh plant leave of the above plants were collected locally and identified by Plant taxonomist. Stock solution was prepared 20% of each extract in deionised water. Fully fed larvae were collected from the stagnant water at diverse residential areas of Gorakhpur city. The larvae were exposed to a wide range of test concentrations as mortality in 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours were used to determine LC50 and LC90 values. The sub-lethal doses 5.88 gm/l of P. hysterophorus showed significant larvicidal effect against the mosquito’s larva. However, M. arvensis and H. suaveolens showed comparatively higher sub-lethal concentrations 27.97 gm/l and 29.53 gm/l; respectively against larvae. Our study suggests that P. Hysterophorus leave extracts to have promising phytochemicals for larvicidal potential of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes.

Keywords: Botanicals, aqueous leaf extract, larval mortality rate, lethal Concentration, Aedes aegypti.