Abstract

Objective: To analyze the larvicidal, smoke toxicity, repellency and adult emergence inhibition activity of crude and solvent extracts of Swietenia mahagoni (S. mahagoni) leaves against larva of Anopheles stephensi (An. stephensi). Methods: To examine the mosquito larval mortality, third instars larvae of An. stephensi were terated with different concentrations of crude and ethyl acetate extracts of mature leaves of S. mahagoni. For smoke toxicity, comparative study was done between mosquito coils prepared from S. mahagoni leaves and commercial mosquito coils. Mosquito repellency was studied with crude and petroleum ether extracts of mature leaves. Inhibition in adult emergence was examined with crude and ethyl acetate extracts of leaves. Results: About 97% mortality of third instars larvae was found in 0.5% crude and 80 mg/L ethyl acetate extracts of mature leaves after 72 h of exposure. Smoke of S. mahagoni leaves showed appreciable toxicity. Crude and petroleum ether leaf extracts of leaves showed repellency up to 2 h after treatment. Regression coefficients (R2) of adult emergence inhibition are close to one. Conclusions: This study reveals that the plant, S. mahagoni has considerable potentiality for malaria vector control. The plant could be utilized as source compounds for the development of safe plant-based herbal insecticides. The leaf extracts of S. mahagoni showed remarkable effect as larvicide, smoke toxic, repellent and adult emergence inhibitor against An. stephensi.

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