MARINE PLANTS FOR MOSQUITO CONTROL

Abstract:
Insecticides of plant origin have been receiving attention in recent years to overcome the environmental hazards in using synthetic insecticides. Large numbers of plant samples have been screened for their insecticidal and/or repellent activities and a few of them have been found promising and their products are commercially available. We have investigated for the first time seaweeds, seagrasses and mangrove plants for their larvicidal, skin and smoke repellent activities against mosquito species. Some of them were effective in killing the larvae or repelling adult female mosquitoes. Leaves of Exoecaria agallocha and Acanthus ilicifolius were found to show smoke repellent activity. Isolation and identification of active compounds from the effective samples would be useful in synthesising mosquito larvicides or repellents on a large scale.