Field efficacy of ethnomedicinal plant smoke repellency against Anopheles arabiensis and Aedes aegypti

Abstract

The repellency effect of smoke from burning Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Ocimum forskolin plants to reduce human-mosquito biting activity. Ground mixed powders of the plant leaves produced smoke by direct burning and thermal expulsion on the traditional stoves in experimental huts against An. arabiensis and Ae. aegypti. A four-by-four Latin-square design was used to assign treatment and control experimental huts over different nights. In the treatment huts, the percent repellency of the smoke produced by burning powdered plant mixtures of the plants were determined by reduction mosquito density. There was a reduction on An. arabiensis (93.75%, P < 0.001) and Ae. aegypti (92%, P < 0.001) respectively, for huts with burning powder versus no treatment. Overall, plant mixed powders tested by both methods of application offered significant protection (>90%) against both mosquito species tested and has the potential to be used as an alternative mosquito control method.

Traditional ethnobotanical knowledge and ethnomedicinal use of plants in the Tropical Rift Valley of Ethiopia

“…Although an in-depth valuation of traditional medicinal plant marketability in the respective research sites was outside the scope of this study, some healers appealed the importance of traditional medicinal plant marketability in the study areas. Besides there market potential some ethnomedicinal plant were reported to have a potential to kill insects such as bedbug [ 71 ], repel the mosquitoes [ 72 ], and some plants were used as a spice for the traditional beverages and food stuff [ 73 ], and some were used as a livestock fodder [ 74 , 75 ]. In overall, the present study could also be used as baseline for a future detailed investigation of the market potential and value chain of medicinal plant resources in the study regions and beyond.…”

Ethnobotanical knowledge and practices of pastoralist communities on plants used as repellents and/or insecticides against insect vectors in the Korahaye zone of the Somali Regional State, eastern Ethiopia

“…The repellent activity of burned plants appears to be caused by the release of certain volatile compounds, which are either present in fresh or dried plants or created during the combustion process[57, 58]. Certain compounds, such as ß-ocimene, which is isolated from Corymbia citriodora, Ocimum suave, and Ostostegia integrifolia, have been shown to have mosquito-repelling properties[58,59]. In addition, a review by Pohlit et al[60] showed that extracts from various plant species have mosquito-repelling properties.…”