Larvicidal activity of the weed plant Parthenium hysterophous L (compositae) against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus

INTRODUCTION

    Mosquitoes are responsible for more diseases than any other group of arthropods. It is observed at the elevations of 5500 meters and minus situated at depth of 1250 meters below the sea level. Two important vector species of mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus are selected for the present study. A. aegypti is the principal vector of Dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever and it is reported to infect more than 100 million people every year in more than 110 countries in the tropics (Halstead, 2000). C. quinquefasciatus is the vector of West Nile Virus which causes encephalitis and meningities which is known to affect the brain tissues, finally resulting in permanent neurological damage. The most suitable remedy for the problems is to control their population and ever increasing use of chemicals to control mosquitoes was found to accumulate in the food chain, residual effect, high cost, environmental pollution and can also cause serious toxic hazards to humans, animals and other non-target creatures and developing resistance to conventional insecticides in many mosquito species have reviewed great interest in exploiting the vector control potential of natural origins. Pesticide exposure among humans has been linked to immune dysfunction, various forms of cancer and birth defects (Bounias, 2003). All these factors led to search for safer and more compatible alternatives to combat these problems, among which natural products, especially plant derived called botanicals are now emerging as a viable component of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) (Jeyabalan et al, 2003). Apart from neem, various other plant species have also shown promising pest controlling properties. These categories of pesticides are known as biopesticides (Mulla, 1994).

 P. hysterophous is known as congress weed, carrot weed, star weed, feverweed, white top, chatak chandani, bitter weed, ramphool, garghsas. Parthenium is also reported as promising remedy against hepatic amoebiasis (Sharma & Bhutani, 1988). In the present study, an attempt has been made to record the larvicidal activity of leaf extracts of P.hysterophous L (Compositae) against A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus.

 MATERIALS AND METHODS

           The eggs of A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus were procured from the research laboratory of National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), at Mettupalayam, Coimbatore District, Tamilnadu (India) and it was maintained in sterilized containers with unchlorinated tap water (18cm diameter X 19 cm height) in laboratory conditions (29±20 C). The eggs and larvae obtained from stock were used for the experiments. Freshly hatched larvae were collected and maintained in separate containers with unchlorinated tap water and dog biscuit with yeast (2:1 ratio) was given as the source of food. Water was changed alternate days. The leaves of P. hysterophous were collected from nearby college campus and brought to the laboratory. The leaves were thoroughly washed with tap water and were dried under shade at room temperature (29 ± 20 C) for about 20 days. The completely dried leaves were powdered and sieved to get fine powder. The powdered leaves 100 gms were extracted separately with 300ml, hexane and acetone by using the Soxhlet apparatus for 8 hours, (Vogel, 1978). The extracts were concentrated using a vacuum evaporator at 450C under low pressure. After complete evaporation of the solvent the concentrated extract was collected and stored in a refrigerator for further experiments. From this stock, 1 gm of residue was dissolved in 100ml respective solvents and kept as a stock solution. This stock solution was used to prepare the desired concentrations of the extracts for exposure of mosquito larvae. The fourth instar larvae and pupae of both C. quinquefasciatus and A. aegypti were used for treatment experiments in the present study. At each tested concentrations 4 trails were made and controls were maintained (using respective solvents) along with the experiment. Mortality in control was negligible in calculation. The percentage of mortality was corrected by Abbotâ??s formula (1925). The data were subjected to probit analysis (Finney, 1971).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

           The present study on the plant extracts expressed the presence of larvicidaland pupicidal activity of P. hysterophous on A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus. Mortality values of larvae and pupae treated with different concentrations of hexane and acetone extracts were ranging from 20-100ppm, 30-150ppm in Aedes and 10-50ppm, 60-100ppm in Culex of leaf extract of P. hysterophous .Based on the probit analysis the 24 hr LC50 of the leaf extract of P. hysterophous for third instar larvae and pupae for A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus against hexane extracts were 47.69, 52.15, 25.48, 29.05ppm and LC90 values were 81.79, 86.93, 45.14, 50.11ppm respectively. In acetone extract the LC50 values of the both species (third instar larvae and pupae) were 72.34, 78.54, 70.01, 74.33ppm and LC90 values were 140.54, 150.55, 93.97 and 101.58ppm respectively. In this experiment C .quinquefasciatus was more susceptible than A. aegypti. Among the hexane and acetone the highest larval and pupal mortality found in hexane extract in both the species. A. aegypti is commonly used in insecticide screening trails because it is usually less susceptible and easy to colonize in the laboratory (Shaalan et al., 2005).

         The result of the present study was comparable to that of previous studies. Pizzaro et al (1999) were reported the activity of the saponine fraction of Agave sisalana and estimate the LC50 and LC90 values against 3rd instar larvae of C. quinquefasciatus, which were 183 and 408ppm respectively. Raj mohan and Ramasamy (2007) were reported LC50 value of Aegeratina adenophora against A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus were 256.70 and 227.20ppm respectively. These concentrations were higher than P. hysterophous, but the authors suggested its use for mosquito control. In the present study the larvae were killed after exposure to sub lethal doses showed bulging of anal papillae as compared to control. This structural distortion of papillae probably led to the death larvae. Similar observations were also noticed in A.aegypti when treated with Aegle marmelos (Samarasekera et al., 2004). Similar dose depantant effect of Lantana camera extracts on third instar larvae of C. quinquefasciatus showed laevicidal activity and cause maximum mortality rate at 3.0mg/ml concentration (Sathish kumar and Maneemegalai, 2008).     

         In the present study P. hysterophourus leaf extract resulted in high mortality which might be due to the multiple action of a compound or synergestic effects of parthenin. (Narasimhan and Keshava murthy, 1984) and combined effect of other phenolic acids such a caffeic acid, vanillic acid, ansic acid, p-ansic acid, chlorogenic acid and parahydroxy benzoic acid (Oudhia 1998) may possess larvicidal and pupicidal property on A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus. Plant extracts have offered many beneficial uses in applications ranging from pharmaceuticals to insecticides. In Homeopathy system, allergies caused by Parthenium can be treated by a drug prepared from Parthenium and in Finland an infusion of Parthenium is used for consumption. In the dictionary of economic plants in India P. hysterophourus is described as a weed found in Poona and is reported to be used as tonic, febrifuge and emmenagogue. Parthenium is also reported as promising remedy against hepatic amoebiasis (Sharma & Bhutani, 1988) and it is used as folk remedy in the Caribbean and Central America (Mabie et al 1996). In Jamaica decoction is used as a flea-repellent both for dogs and other animals (Morton, 1981). Mew et al (1982) demonstrated that sublethal doses of Parthenin exhibited antitumour activity in mice and that the drug could either cure mice completely or increase their survival time after they had been injected with cancer cells. Parthenin, a toxin of Parthenium, is found pharmacologically active against neuralogia and certain types of rheumatism. Pathenin induced dose dependent damage to human leucocyte chromosomes invitro and micronuclei formation in polychromatic erythrocytes of mice is reported (Dominguez & Sierra, 1970). The findings of the present investigation revealed that the leaf extract of P. hysterophous possess remarkable larvicidal and pupicidal property against A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus. P. hysterophous is a noxious weed and resource is scanty. The botanical insecticides are generally safer, readily biodegradable non-toxic but active against the insect pest and lack toxicity to higher animals and they do not leave any phytotoxic residues in the environment and active against insect pest. Thus the observation made in the present study have come as yet another evidence for the significant influence of the plant derived botanical pesticide like P. hysterophous in the control of mosquito.

 

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O aproveitamenoto do residuo da industria do sisal no controle de larvas de mosquitoes. Rev.Soc.Bras.Med.Trop.32, 23-29. Rajmohan, D. and Ramaswamy, M., 2007. Evaluation of larvicidal activity of the leaf extract of a weed plant, Ageratina adenophora, against two important species of Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. African Journal of and Biotechnology 6(5): 631 â?? 638. Samaraskera.J.K, Khambay. B.P and Hemalal. K.P. 2004. A new insecticidal protolimonoid from Aegle marmelos. Nature product research. 18(2): 117-122. Sathish kumar, M and Maneemegalai, S. 2008. Evalution of larvicidal effect of Lantana camera Linn against mosquito species Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. Advances in biological research. 2(3-4): 39-43. Sharma, G.L. and K.K Bhutani. 1988. Plant based antiamoebic drugs. Part II. Amoebicidal activity of parthenin isolated from Parthenium hysterophorus. Planta Medica. 54:20-22. Vogel, A. I. 1978. In: text book of practical organic chemistry. The English language society and Longman, London. Pp. 1368. REFERENCE Abbott, W. S. 1925. A method of computing the effectiveness of an insecticide. Journal of Economic Entomology. 18: 265-267. Bounias, M. 2003. Etiological factors and mechanism involved in relationship between pesticide exposure and cancer. Journal of Environmental Biology. 24(1): 1-8. Dominguez, X.A. and A. Sierra. 1970. Isolation of a new diterpene alcohol and parthenin from Parthenium hysterophorus. Planta Medica 18:275-277. Essam Abdel-salam Shaalan, Deon Canyon, Mohamad Wagdy Faried Younes, Hoda Abdel-Wahab and Abdel-Hamid Mansour. 2005. A review of botanical phytochemical with mosquitocidal potential . Environmental International. 31: 1149-1166. Finney, D. J. 1971. Probit analysis. Cambridge University Press, London. Pp. 68-72. Halstead, S. B. 2000.Global perspective on Dengue Research. Dengue Bulletin.24: 77-82. Mew, D., F. Balza, G.H.N. Towers, and I.G. Levy. 1982. Antitumour effects of the sesquiterpene lactone parthenin. Planta Medica .45: 23-27. Morton, J.F. 1981. The puzzling whitetop. Parthenium hysterophorus: Noxious weed, health hazard, folk-remedy, flea repellent. Unpublished report, Univ. of Miami, Florida. Mulla.M.S. 1994. Mosquito control then, new and in the future. Journal of American Mosquito Control Association. 10(4): 574-84. Narasimhan. T.R. and Keshava murthy, B.S. 1984. Characterization of a toxin from Parthenium hysterophorus and its mode of excretion in animals. Journal of Bioscience. 6:729-738. Navie, S.C., R.E. Mcfadyen, F.D. Panetta, and S.W. Adkins. 1996. The Biology of Australian Weeds 27. Parthenium hysterophorus L. Plant Protection Quarterly .11(2): 76-88. Oudhia, P. 1998. Parthenium:A curse for the biodiversity of Chhattisgarh Plains. Abstract. National Research Seminar on Bio-chemical Changes. An Impact on Environment, R.D. Govt. P.G. College, Mandlaa (M.P.) 30-31 July p. 26. Pizzaro, A.P.B, Oliveira-Filho.A.M, Parente.J.P. Melo.M.T.V, Santose.C.M and Lima. P.R. 1999. O aproveitamenoto do residuo da industria do sisal no controle de larvas de mosquitoes. Rev.Soc.Bras.Med.Trop.32, 23-29. Rajmohan, D. and Ramaswamy, M., 2007. Evaluation of larvicidal activity of the leaf extract of a weed plant, Ageratina adenophora, against two important species of Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. African Journal of and Biotechnology 6(5): 631 â?? 638. Samaraskera.J.K, Khambay. B.P and Hemalal. K.P. 2004. A new insecticidal protolimonoid from Aegle marmelos. Nature product research. 18(2): 117-122. Sathish kumar, M and Maneemegalai, S. 2008. Evalution of larvicidal effect of Lantana camera Linn against mosquito species Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. Advances in biological research. 2(3-4): 39-43. Sharma, G.L. and K.K Bhutani. 1988. Plant based antiamoebic drugs. Part II. Amoebicidal activity of parthenin isolated from Parthenium hysterophorus. Planta Medica. 54:20-22. Vogel, A. I. 1978. In: text book of practical organic chemistry. The English language society and Longman, London. Pp. 1368.