Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the ovicidal and larvicidal activities of hexane, chloroform and methanol extracts of Gymnema sylvestre, Scilla peruvina, Rubia cordifolia (R. cordifolia) and Elytraria acaulis roots against the eggs and larvae of Aedes aegypti L. (Ae. aegypti) and Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Cx. quinquefasciatus) at different concentrations of 62.5, 125, 250 and 500 mg/L. Methods: The plant materials were shade dried in the laboratory for one week and then coarsely powdered. The root powder of each plant (500 g) was sequentially soaked in hexane, chloroform and methanol for 96 h with intermittent shaking. After 96 h, the solution was filtered and the filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure by using rotary vacuum evaporator. All the crude extracts thus obtained were stored in air tight glass vials and Petri dishes. Results: The ovicidal activity results showed that the methanol extract of R. cordifolia root was the most potent compared to other with 82.40% and 70.40% activity against the eggs of Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti, respectively, at 500 mg/L concentration similarly, methanol extract of R. cordifolia root also recorded the highest larvicidal activity with LC50 and LC90 values of 95.69, 347.96 mg/L against Cx. quinquefasciatus and 102.23, 350.20 mg/L against Ae. aegypti larvae, respectively. Conculsions: Hence, methanol extract of R. cordifolia root can be probed further for effective biological control of mosquitoes.

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