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ENTOMON 42(3): 235-238 (2017)
Short Communication No. ent. 42309
* Author for correspondence
© 2017 Association for Advancement of Entomology
Evaluation of ajwain and mustard seed extract on
susceptibility of Anopheles stephensi Liston
Neetu Kachhwaha
*
, Shashi Meena and Geeta Meena
Department of Zoology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, 302004, Rajasthan, India
Email: drneetu2011@gmail.com
ABSTRACT: The most effective method to manage mosquito population is to kill aquatic stages
(egg, larva and pupa) of mosquito than the aerial adult stage. The susceptibility test was evaluated
against larvae of Anopheles stephensi in the laboratory conditions maintaining the temperature of
27±2ºC and 70±80% Relative Humidity. The combination of the seed extracts of Trachyspermum
ammi (ajwain), mustard oil and naphthalene were taken in the ratio 1:2:1. Results of the larval
susceptibility test after 25 hours of treatment revealed that the combination of the three components
are significant in killing the larval population of Anopheles stephensi to some extent. It has also been
noticed that the rise in dose from 1ml/199ml to 7ml/99ml of water increased the larval mortality.
© 2017 Association for Advancement of Entomology
KEY WORDS: Susceptibility test; Anopheles stephensi larvae; ajwain; mustard
Mosquito and man relationship lies on earth from
millions of year ago. Major focus is on killing adult
stages of mosquito but larval stages are easy to
manage as they are in known areas, do not fly, do
not bite, do not spread diseases, safer, easy to kill
by various integrated managements. The three
stages of mosquito egg, larvae and pupae are aquatic
while only the adult stage is aerial. So we can
manage and control three stages at a time. Three
strains of Aedes aegpti and a single species of
Culex molestus were studied to determine
susceptibility of larvae to various insecticides by
George (1957). Anopheles stephensi is a well
known urban vector found in tropic regions of India
(Dash et al, 2007) breeds in man-made sites such
as overhead tanks, wells, masonry tanks, water
coolers, barrels, discarded tyres, tins, intradomestic
containers, garden pots, curing water in construction
sites etc (Kumar and Thavaselvam, 1992). There
are many ways of larval control like application of
tablet, pellet and granular formulation of larvicidal
chemicals, introduction of larvivorous fishes like
Gambusia affinis, Poecilia reticulate in large
breeding sites (ponds and pools), use of insect
growth regulators, use of mineral oils and other
microbial control agents such as Bacillus
thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), Bacillus
sphaericus (Khyami-Horani, 1995). A combination
of T rachyspermum ammi , mustard oil and
naphthalene was tested on larval susceptibility
Anopheles stephensi Liston in the laboratory.
For conducting the test 250ml glassbeakers, dropper
to transfer larvae, soxhlet apparatus for extraction
of Trachyspermum ammi , mustard oil and
naphthalene powder, third or fourth instar larvae,
cooling incubator for maintain temperature were
used. Larval susceptibility test was accomplished
by taking the help of WHO guidelines (2005) and
Khalil et al. (2015). Thirty larvae (basically third