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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #317524
Research Project: Biting Arthropod Surveillance and Control

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Ovicidal efficacy of Ageratina adenophora (Family: Asteraceae) against Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae)

Author
item RAJESWARY, M - Annamalai University Of India
item GOVINDARAJAN, M - Annamalai University Of India
item MURUGAN, K - Bharathiar University
item HWANG, JIANG-SHIOU - National Taiwan Ocean University
item Barnard, Donald
item AMSATH, A - Bharathiar University
item MUTHUKUMARAN, U - Annamalai University Of India

Submitted to: International Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/25/2014
Publication Date: 6/2/2014
Citation: Rajeswary, M., Govindarajan, M., Murugan, K., Hwang, J., Barnard, D.R., Amsath, A., Muthukumaran, U. 2014. Ovicidal efficacy of Ageratina adenophora (Family: Asteraceae) against Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae). International Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology. 2(3):196-199.

Interpretive Summary: Malaria threatens the health of more than 2 billion people in tropical areas of the world. In India and other western Asian countries, the most common mosquito vector of human malaria is Anopheles stephensi. New and improved methods are needed to control this mosquito species and to prevent its transmission of malaria parasites to humans. In this study, Indian and ARS scientists determined the ovicidal (egg-killing) effect of chemical extracts from the leaves of eupator, a plant in the sunflower family. Maximum ovicidal effect was observed for the methanol extract, which killed all (100%) mosquito eggs when used at a 300 mg/L concentration. This is the first report of mosquito ovicidal activity for any extract of eupator against Anopheles stephensi and suggests these extracts warrant further study and possible development for use as an eco-friendly control technology for malaria-transmitting mosquitoes.

Technical Abstract: Mosquitoes are blood-feeding insects and serve as the most important vectors for spreading human diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and filariasis. The continued use of synthetic insecticides has resulted in resistance in mosquitoes. Synthetic insecticides are toxic and affect the environment by contaminating soil, water, and air, and then natural products may be an alternative to synthetic insecticides because they are effective, biodegradable, eco-friendly, and safe to environment. Botanical origin may serve as suitable alternative biocontrol techniques in the future. The ovicidal efficacy of different extracts of Ageratina adenophora (A. adenophora) against Anopheles stephensi (An. stephensi) (Diptera: Culicidae). Larvicidal efficacy of the crude leaf extracts of A. adenophora with five different solvents like hexane, benzene, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol was tested against the early third instar larvae of An. stephensi. The ovicidal activity was determined against An. stephensi mosquito species to various concentrations ranging from 75-450 mg/L under the laboratory conditions. Among five solvent extracts tested, the methanol extract have most promising ovicidal activity. The methanol extract exerted zero hatchability (100% mortality) at 300 mg/L. From the results it can be concluded the crude extract of A. adenophora was a potential for controlling An.stephensi mosquito eggs.