Repellent activities of the essential oils of four sudanese accessions of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) against Anopheles mosquito

Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) of the Labiatae is an important culinary herb and essential oil source widely recognized worldwide, though much less in Sudan. The essential oil of 4 basil accessions were assessed for mosquito repellency were suggested. Basil seed accessions were collected as seeds and grown at the University of Gezira farm, Wad Medani, Sudan. All four essential oil conferred complete mosquito repellency (assayed by the human-bait technique) lasting for 1.5 to 2.5 h per one application of 0.1 mL to a volunteer's arm. Repellency generally decreased with bioassay time. The experimental results obtained from this study suggest that essential oil of basil are promising as repellents at 0.1% concentration against Anopheles mosquito and could be useful in the search for new natural repellent compounds. © 2009 Asian Network for Scientific Information.