Volume - 14 | Issue - 08 | August - 2024 | PRINT ISSN No. 2249 - 555X | DOI : 10.

36106/ijar
Original Research Paper
Botany

BIOPOTENTIAL BEHAVIOR OF A HYDROPHYTE –EICHCHORNIA

CRASSIPES AS MOSQUITO REPELLENT

Nihar Ranjan* Chief Conservator of Forests. *Corresponding Author

Dr. K. Arivoli Deputy Conservator of Forests.
Dr. S. Aghizion Project Associate.
Inbakani
ABSTRACT Mosquitoes are the oldest human enemy and controlling them is of prime importance in recent years because of the
numerous diseases caused by them. There is an urgent need to identify new control strategies that will remain effective,
even in the face of growing insecticide and drug resistance. The present study aims to evaluate the larvicidal activity of Eichhornia crassipes crude
leaf extracts against the larial vector Anopheles stephensi, Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti.
KEYWORDS : mosquito repellant, utilization, hydrophyte, eichhornia, larvicidal activity
INTRODUCTION leaves using a Clevenger arm apparatus. The aqueous layer and
The world today is still plagued by a myriad of diseases and a number organic layer were collected separately. Then the organic layer was
of these are caused by vector-borne. The mosquito, having a allowed to dry over anhydrous sodium sulphate and the aqueous layer
cosmopolitan distribution, except in the Antarctic regions is one of the was extracted twice with dichloromethane. Finally, the combined
most despised creatures in the animal kingdom with a horric solvents were evaporated and essential oil was obtained. Essential oil
reputation of being a vector of several diseases. Vector-borne diseases was weighed and stored in the refrigerator at 4ºC until it was used for
are illnesses caused by pathogens and parasites in human populations. the experiment.
Mosquitoes represent a signicant threat because of their ability to
carry pathogens that cause diseases that afict millions of people Preparation Of The Test Solution
worldwide. Every year, more than one billion people are infected and 10% (v/v) of essential oils (Eichhornia crassipes, lemon and
more than one million people die from vector-borne diseases (Reuda et peppermint oils) containing ethanol solutions were mixed and
al., 2008). About 3000 species of mosquitoes have been recorded prepared a stock solution. 0.3 ml of essential oil stock was mixed with 3
worldwide, out of which more than 100 species are reported to be drops of Tween 80. Then ethanol was added until the volume was 3 ml.
capable of transmitting diseases to humans (Rahuman et al., 2009). To prepare the control test solution, ethanol was added to 3 drops of
Tween 80, until the volume was 3 ml.
Around the world, the medical and economic burden caused by vector-
borne disease continues to grow as current control measures fail to Mosquito Larval Culture
cope. There is an urgent need to identify new control strategies that will To satisfy the enormous number of mosquitoes needed for the day-to-
remain effective, even in the face of growing insecticide and drug day bioassays, a colony is essential. The eggs and egg rafts of
resistance (Govindarajan et al., 2012). Mosquito control relies heavily Anopheles stephensi, Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti were
on synthetic insecticide application. However, excess and injudicious collected from the stagnant water loggings in the nearby locality. Filter
application of synthetic insecticides has resulted in the development of paper attached with eggs was dipped into a plastic tray containing 500
resistance to these insecticides by mosquitoes and unwarranted toxic ml of de-chlorinated water for 30-40 min, time enough to allow for
or lethal effects on non-target organisms, as well as environmental eggs to hatch into larvae. They were reared indoors at 28±2°C
health problems. This phenomenon has triggered and urged the temperature and a 14:10 light and dark period cycle. The larvae were
development of alternative techniques using natural products. fed with a powdered mixture of sh food and yeast powder in 3:1 ratio.
After ve days of emergence, female mosquitoes were moved into a
Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms commonly called water hyacinth mosquito cage where the emergent adults were fed with a 100 g/L
is an aquatic perennial herb that belongs to the family Pontederiaceae. sucrose solution and allowed for blood feed using white albino for 2-3
It is indigenous to the New World tropics and has its center of origin in h. A few days after having a blood meal, the gravid mosquito laid their
Amazonia, Brazil with anthropogenic spread to other areas viz., eggs.
Venezuela, parts of Central South America, the larger Caribbean
islands, Egypt, India, Australia and Java. The fresh juice of this plant is Larvicidal Activity
used to treat fresh wounds and along with vinegar, it is being used in the The test for the larvicidal effect of Eichhornia crassipes oil against
treatment of septic wounds. The plant possesses antimicrobial, mosquito larvae (A. aegypti, C. quinquefasciatus and A. stephensi) was
antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inammatory and wound healing activity. conducted by WHO standard method.
The phytochemical constituents include anthraquinones, phenolics,
alkaloids, avonoids, sterols, anthocyanins, proteins, quinones, Preparation Of Dosages
avonoids, anthraquinones, carbohydrates, stigmasterol, campesterol, 10ml of test solution was prepared by serial dilutions. It is expressed in
β-sitosterol and many phenalene compounds. volume per volume (v/v). Batches of 15 early 4th instar larvae of three
mosquitoes (A. aegypti, C. Quinquefasciatus and A. stephensi) were
Eichhornia crassipes is also reported to exhibit insecticidal activity. In transferred to big sized petri plate containing 100ml of distilled water
Bangladesh, the dried whole plant of water hyacinth has been used to and 1ml of test solution (10- 100ml). Each experiment was conducted
ward off insects in animal sheds. with three replicates and a concurrent control group. A control group
consisted of 1 mL of the control test solution and 100ml of distilled
Considering the above-mentioned insecticidal activity particularly water only for the larvicidal activity test. Different dosages of test
mosquitocidal, the present study is aimed to evaluate the larvicidal solutions were prepared in the following ratio:
activity of Eichhornia crassipes crude leaf extracts against the larial 1. Dosage 1 - 1:1 (5ml of test solution+ 5ml of distilled water)
vector. 2. Dosage 2 - 1:2 (2.5ml of test solution + 7.5ml of distilled water)
3. Dosage 3 - 1:3 (1.25ml of test solution + 8.75ml of distilled water)
MATERIALS AND METHODS 4. Dosage 4 - 1:4 (0.625ml of test solution + 9.375ml of distilled water)
Collection And Preparation Of Plant Extraction 5. Control
The leaves of the Eichhornia crassipes were collected separately from
the natural habitat of Vandalur, Chengalpattu district. Hydro- The above doses are used to make serial standard solutions of
distillation process was separately performed for Eichhornia crassipes Eichhornia crassipes and 24 hours to observe their mortality.
INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH 1
 Volume - 14 | Issue - 08 | August - 2024 | PRINT ISSN No. 2249 - 555X | DOI : 10.36106/ijar
After treatment, symptoms in treated larvae were observed and Effect Of Mosquito Repellency
recorded immediately at time intervals and no food was offered to the The percentage of the mosquito repellency for test solutions of
larvae. At the end of 24 h, the larvae were considered dead, they Eichhornia crassipes oil shown in Table 2 was calculated as below,
showed no sign of swimming movements even after gentle touching
with a glass rod, as described in the WHO's technical report series. The
percentage of mortality was calculated with Abbott's formula,

where,
C= Number of mosquitoes aligned/left and aligned/bit when the
Preparation of the Mosquito Repellent Spray solvent was used
Bio-Efficacy Testing of the Mosquito Repellent Spray
Bio-efcacy tests of the mosquito repellent spray were done. Outdoor N= Number of mosquitoes aligned/left and aligned/bit when the test
and indoor eld trials were conducted over two days from 8 am to 11 solutions were used
am by separately applying the mosquito repellent spray.
Table 2: Mean Values Of Mosquitoes Repellency (%)
RESULTS Formulated Calculated Mean Value Percentage Mosquito
Extraction of Eichhornia crassipes oil Dosages of Mosquitoes Repellency (%)
The simple oil distillation method was used for the extraction of oil D1 1.00 93.75
(Figure 1). The yields of the extracts and the essential oils were D2 1.67 89.56
determined as a percentage (w/w) using the formula,
D3 2.33 85.44
D4 3.00 81.25
Control 0 0
Table 3: Bio-efficacy Test Results Of The Mosquito Repellent
Spray
Time (am) Day 1 Day 2
Indoor Outdoor
Control D1 Control D1 Control D1 Control D1
8 18 0 15 0 17 0 15 0
9 13 0 14 0 16 0 14 0
10 07 0 09 0 11 0 08 0
11 04 0 05 0 08 0 03 0
According to the indoor and outdoor eld trials which were carried out
Figure 1: Extracted Eichhornia crassipes oil for four hours each day for two days, both the mosquito repellent spray
has shown 100% mosquito repellency. The ndings of this study could
Effects of Larvicidal Potential be varied to many factors such as the species of mosquito and the
The test solution of Eichhornia crassipes oil shows 100%, 90%, 73.3% quality of the essential oil for mosquitoes. The quality of the essential
& 40%, mortality rates after 4 hours of exposure in different dosages oils depends on many factors such as plant species, growth conditions,
respectively (Figure 2). maturity of plants, plant storage, plant preparation and methods of
extraction.
After 8 hours it showed 100%, 93.3%, 90% &70% mortality rates in
the above-mentioned concentrations respectively (Table 1). CONCLUSIONS
Eichhornia crassipes essential oil showed higher mosquito repellent
Table - 1: Bioassay Experiment For Larvicidal Potential activities compared to plant extracts of the literature cited. The
Dilution Concentr No. of % No. of Percentage mosquito repellent spray which contained 1:1 ratio (v/v %) of the
ation larvae mortality larvae mortality active ingredient, showed 100% mosquito repellency for outdoor and
(gm/L) (0 hrs) rate (%) after 8 hrs rate (%) indoor eld trials which were carried out for six hours each day for two
1:1 500 15 100 0 100 days.
1:2 250 15 90 1 93.3
The present investigation reports the larvicidal potential and the
1:3 125 15 73.3 2 90
mosquito repellency of Eichhornia crassipes essential oil was
1:4 62.5 15 40 5 70 effective even at very low concentrations and could be a better
alternative for chemical mosquito repellent sprays against diseases
spreading mosquito larvae and mosquitoes.

REFERENCES:
[1] Reuda LM. (2008), “Global diversity of mosquitoes (Insecta: Diptera: Culicidae) in
freshwater.” Developments in Hydrobiology, 198,477-487.
[2] Rahuman AA, Bagavan A, Kamaraj C, Saravanan E, Zahir AA, Elango G. (2009),
“Efcacy of larvicidal botanical extracts against Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera:
Culicidae).” Parasitology Research, 104, 1365-1372.
[3] Govindarajan M, Sivakumar R. (2012), “Repellent properties of Cardiospermum
halicacabum Linn. (Family: Sapindaceae) plant leaf extracts against three important
vector mosquitoes.” Asian Pacic Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, 2(8), 602-607.

Figure 6: Mortality Rate

Figure 7: Effect of larvicidal activity

2 INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH