Antibacteria and Larvicidal Activities of Three Selected Botanicals

Abstract

Diseases have been part of man existence since time immemorial. The present scenario for controlling these diseases is aimed at application of target, cost-effective and biodegradable phytochemical products. Therefore, in the present study the larvicidal activities of Gliricidia sepium, Azadirachta indica and Hyptis suaveolens leaf extracts against anopheles mosquito was studied. Qualitative phytochemical screening was carried out while standard scientific protocols with minor modifications were adopted for the larvicidal bioassay. The results show that the plants contain all the phytochemicals screened with tannins, flavonoid and saponin being the most abundant. Also, A. indica exhibited the highest larvicida activity of 65% followed by G. sepium (60 %) and the control (water) was found to have lowest larval mortality percentage of 0% after 24 hrs. The calculated LD₅₀ were 0.48 mg/ml, 0.65 mg/ml and 3.18 mg/ml for G. sepium, A. indica and H. suaveolens respectively. These suggest that G. sepium and A. indica may be exploited for the production of antibiotics and biolarvicides. However, further investigations are needed to identify the active ingredient (s) of the extract responsible for the observed bioactivity in this study.