Larvicidal activity of Ipomoea carnea stem extracts and its active ingredient dibutyl phthalate against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus

Vector born diseases like Malaria, Filaria and Dengue fever are some major diseases in India. Management of the disease vector for Dengue fever using synthetic chemicals has failed due to vector resurgence and environmental pollution. Considering the recent evidence of these three diseases, there is an urgent need to control vector population of mosquitoes. The development of eco- friendly and target specific agents for the control of mosquito level is of prime importance. Ipomoea carnea, belonging to convolvulaceae family and fistulosa sub-family can be a potential candidate for that. The present work reveals some larvicidal activities of Ipomoea carnea stem extracts, their different fractions and dibutyl phthalate, which is a secondary metabolite isolated from the extract. These were screened against mosquitoe species Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. All exhibited significant chronic mosquito-larval toxicities against the two vectors. Experiments were carried out with 4th instar larvae (0-24 h old) of Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus which were cultured and maintained during the experiment at 80± 5% and relative humidity at 27± 2o. LC50 and LC90 values for test samples were also calculated.