Abstract

Kerala has rich ethnobotanical background and herbal medicines have stood the test of time for their safety, efficacy, cultural acceptability and lesser side effects. Nevertheless, topical insecticides remain the mainstay of control of lousiness in livestock and poultry and this has led to several problems including the development of resistance, toxic manifestations in animals and birds, and concerns of residues in milk, meat as well as environment. Preliminary in vitro trials were conducted to assess the comparative efficacy of Lantana camara, Calotropis gigantea and Allium sativum against poultry lice by adopting filter paper protocol. The lice selected for the study were recovered from heavy natural infestation from backyard chicken. They were morphologically identified as Menopon gallinae and Lipeurus caponis . The trials proved the significantly high lousicidal property of ethanolic extracts of C. gigantea and A. sativum at 5% concentration in 24 hour incubation period. The lousicidal effect of L. camara as evidenced at 10% concentration after 48 hour incubation period was significantly lower than other two plant extracts with the same treatment. This seems to indicate that extracts from A. sativum bulbs and C. gigantea possess better lousicidal properties than L. camara which were directly proportionate to the concentration. The results are encouraging and provide scientific validation of the efficacy of C. gigantea and A. sativum against Menopon gallinae and Lipeuris caponis . Knowledge of plants with insecticidal properties, their toxic principles and biological activity is of utmost importance not only to replace toxic chemicals but also to unravel their effects in lesser known species.

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