ANTI-MOSQUITO ACTIVITY OF ESSENTIAL OILS EXTRACTED FROM PIPER NIGRUM AND PIPER BETLE LEAF AGAINST AEDES AEGYPTI

Abstract

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus, and Aedes aegypti is the principal vector responsible for dengue transmission. The current study was carried out to assess anti-mosquito activity of essential oils extracted from Piper nigrum and Piper betle leaf against Ae. aegypti under the laboratory conditions. The results indicated that the essential oils resulted in concentration-dependent mortalities and repellent effects toward the mosquito. The essential oil from P. betle leaf showed stronger larvicidal, adulticidal and repellent activities against the mosquito than that from P. nigrum leaf. The P. betle essential oil killed 95.00% of the Ae. aegypti lavae 24 hours after exposure and caused mortality in 86.67% of the Ae. aegypti adults after an hour of observation at concentration of 250µg/mL and 12.00µg/mL, respectively. The P. betle essential oil was also effective in repelling the mosquito. At concentration of 2.40µg/mL, the essential oil repelled 95.32% of adult population after an hour of the treatment. The further studies need to be carried out in order to use the P. betle essential oil as a bio-mosquitocide for control of Ae. aegypti.