Comparative Toxicity Effect of Some Plant Extracts against Larvae of Anopheline (Diptera: Culicidae) in the North Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Owing to the adverse effect of synthetic pesticides, there has been increasing need to search for natural and environment friendly pesticides of plant origin as agents for control of vector of mosquito-borne diseases. This study was aimed to investigate the larvicidal activities of North eastern botanicals against vector of mosquitoes-borne diseases. Five mosquito repellent plants used by the indigenous people of north eastern, Nigeria were analysed for their effectiveness against Anopheline mosquitoes. The methanol and petroleum ether were analysed for their phytochemical properties. The methanol and petroleum ether extracts were investigated for phytochemical compounds with larvicidal activities against anopheline 3rd instar larvae through using deferent extracts of methanol and petroleum ether of different concentration that ranged from 50-200 ppm.  The larvicidal were observed after every six hours for total period of 36 hours. The extracts of Hyptis suaveolens and Azadirachta indica of both methanol and petroleum ether extracts showed high toxicity effects against anopheline. The test plants contained phenol, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, azadrachtin, glycosides saponins, terpenoids and steroids. In conclusion, the present plant extracts have potentials for development of new and safe control products for mosquitoes. As natural occurring insecticides, these plants derived materials that could be useful as an alternative for synthetic insecticides.