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Towards green oviposition deterrents? Effectiveness of Syzygium lanceolatum (Myrtaceae) essential oil against six mosquito vectors and impact on four aquatic biological control agents

  • Plant-borne compounds and nanoparticles: challenges for medicine, parasitology and entomology
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Abstract

Essential oils (EOs) from plants may be alternative sources of molecules toxic against mosquito vectors of public health relevance. Most of researches in this field focused on EOs as larvicides or ovicides, while limited efforts focused on the exploitation of EOs as oviposition deterrents. In the present study, the larvicidal and oviposition deterrent activity of Syzygium lanceolatum leaf EO was evaluated against six mosquito species, Anopheles stephensi, An. subpictus, Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Culex quinquefasciatus, and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus. The chemical composition of the S. lanceolatum EO was analyzed by GC-MS analysis, showing the presence of phenyl propanal, β-caryophyllene, α-humulene, and caryophyllene oxide as major constituents. S. lanceolatum EO showed high acute toxicity on An. stephensi (LC50 = 51.20 μg/ml), Ae. aegypti (LC50 = 55.11 μg/ml), Cx. quinquefasciatus (LC50 = 60.01 μg/ml), An. subpictus (LC50 = 61.34 μg/ml), Ae. albopictus (LC50 = 66.71 μg/ml), and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus (LC50 = 72.24 μg/ml) larvae. Furthermore, the EO was effective as oviposition deterrent against the six tested mosquito species, with OAI on An. stephensi, An. subpictus, Ae. aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Cx. quinquefasciatus, and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus reaching −0.83, −0.81, −0.84, −0.83, −0.84, and −0.86, respectively. The toxicity of S. lanceolatum EO against several biological control agents of mosquitoes, including water bugs (Anisops bouvieri and Diplonychus indicus) and fishes (Gambusia affinis and Poecilia reticulata), was extremely low, with LC50 ranging between 4148 and 15,762 μg/ml. Overall, our results pointed out the promising potential of the S. lanceolatum leaf EO as a source of environmental-friendly oviposition deterrents and larvicides effective against a wide number of mosquito species of importance for parasitology.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Professor and Head of the Department of Zoology, Annamalai University for the laboratory provisions granted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Giovanni Benelli

  2. Unit of Vector Control, Phytochemistry and Nanotechnology, Department of Zoology, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu, 608 002, India

    Mohan Rajeswary & Marimuthu Govindarajan

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  1. Giovanni Benelli
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  2. Mohan Rajeswary
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  3. Marimuthu Govindarajan
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Correspondence to Giovanni Benelli or Marimuthu Govindarajan.

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All applicable international and national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted.

Funding

G. Benelli is sponsored by PROAPI (PRAF 2015) and University of Pisa, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Grant ID: COFIN2015_22). Funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analyses, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Benelli, G., Rajeswary, M. & Govindarajan, M. Towards green oviposition deterrents? Effectiveness of Syzygium lanceolatum (Myrtaceae) essential oil against six mosquito vectors and impact on four aquatic biological control agents. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 10218–10227 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-8146-3

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