The determination of effective concentration of acethonilic Ipomoea cairica leaves extract against laboratory and field strains of Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae

Inundated with escalating dengue outbreaks, there is an urgent call to find alternate potential vector control methods as the currently employed method fails to curb the expanding of dengue virus transmission in Malaysia. Supported by this aim, we are interested in exploiting the potential of Ipomoea cairica leaves extract towards primary and secondary vectors of dengue fever, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. To assess the effectiveness of this plant extracts towards Aedes larvae, we carried out two complementary analyses. First, we observed the comparative effectiveness of larvicidal activity I. cairica extract against the laboratory and field strains of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. Then, we determined the effective lethal dose of this plant extract against Aedes larvae using log-probit regression analysis of the SPSS 20.0 programme. Results from bioassay demonstrated that I. cairica leaves extract was highly effective to induce larvicidal mortality of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti within 24 and 48 hours post-treatment. Results from the factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) also indicated that there were significant differences in larvicidal activity between species and strains used (P<0.05). It is interesting to notify that the sequence of effectiveness for the larvicidal activities of I. cairica acethonilic leaves extract is in the manner; Ae. albopictus field strain > Ae. aegypti laboratory strain > Ae. aegypti field strain > Ae. albopictus laboratory strain. The I. cairica leaves extract displayed high larvicidal activity against Ae. albopictus as compared to Ae. aegypti. This is the first evaluation involving the comparison of I. cairica leaves extract effects for the laboratory strain and field strain of Ae. albopictus and Ae. Aegypti.