Larvicidal and repellent properties of some essential oils against Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles and Anopheles subpictus Grassi(Diptera:Culicidae)

Objective:To investigate the larvicidal and repellent properties of essential oils from various parts of four plant species Cymbopogan citrates,Cinnamomum zeylanicum,Rosmarinus of ficinalis and Zingiber of ficinale against Culex tritaeniorhynchus(Cx.tritaeniorhynchus) and Anopheles subpictus(An.subpktus).Methods:Essential oils were obtained by hydro-distillation method.The mosquitoes were reared in the vector control laboratory and twenty five late third ins tar larvae of Cx.tritaeniorhynchus and An.subpictus were exposed to based on the wide range and narrow range test,essential oil tested at various concentrations ranging from 25 to 250 ppm.The larval mortality was observed after 24 h under the laboratory conditions.The repellent efficacy was determined against two mosquito species at three concentrations viz., 1.0,2.5 and 5.0 mg/cm~2 under laboratory conditions.Results:Results showed all the four plant essential oil produced significant larval mortality against two mosquito species.However,the highest larvicidal activity was observed in the essential oil from Zingiber of ficinale against Cx. tritaeniorhynchus and An.subpktus with the LC50and LC90values as 98.83,57.98 ppm and 186.55, 104.23 ppm,respectively.All the four essential oil shows significant repellency against Cx. tritaeniorhynchus than An.subpktus.Among four essential oil tested the highest repellency was observed in Zingiber of ficinale,a higher concentration of 5.0 mg/cm~2 provided 100%protection up to 150 and 180 min against Cx.tritaeniorhynchus and An.subpktus,respectively.Conclusions: In this work,it can be concluded that four essential oils which were distilled from Cymbopogan citrates,Cinnamomum zeylanicum,Rosmarinus of ficinalis and Zingiber of ficinale showed promising larvicidal and repellent agent against Cx.tritaeniorhynchus and An.subpktus.