Susceptibility of Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) Larvae to Methanolic Extracts of Annona reticulata

Rania Ali El Hadi Mohamed, Lamya Ahmed Al-Keridis, Souheila Nagmouchi and Rebai Benammar

Background and Objective: Environment pollution and resistance of many pests to the most frequently used chemical insecticides gave the rationale of altering to replace them with natural herbal extracts for pests and vector control. This study investigated the effect of methanolic extract of Annona reticulata on the mortality and development of larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus. Materials and Methods: Methanolic herbal extracts were analyzed using Reverse-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) to identify the phytochemical compounds in them. Ten mosquito larvae were used as replicates and exposed to each of the five concentrations of the plant extract (30, 100, 150, 200 and 250 mg mL^–1) and ten larvae were exposed to double distilled water and considered as control. Results: Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of phenols, steroids, quinones, tannins and saponins. Statistical analysis showed a significant strong correlation and regression between exposure to the different concentrations of the extract and mortality of Culex quinquefasciatus larvae where R² = 0.982, the Correlation value is 0.991099 (p<0.05). Results also showed that the extracts affect the development of larvae more than mortality. The effect of the extracts on the early larval stages was significantly high compared to the late stages of larvae. Conclusion: According to our knowledge results of this study has been reported for the first time in Saudi Arabia where Annona reticulata is neglected regionally and no study approved its efficacy as a botanical herbal extract against mosquitoes.

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