Exploring larvicidal activity of <i>Prosopis juliflora</i> seedpods for Mosquito repellent formulations

Mosquitoes are one of the dangerous insects that transmit dreadful diseases such as Malaria, Chikungunya, Yellow fever, Dengue fever, Filariasis, Zika etc..The chemically derived insecticides cause allergic reaction to human and cause several environmental deteriorations. The present study aims to formulate Mosquito repellents from essential oil of Prosopis juliflora . The essential oil from Prosopis juliflora seedpods were extracted by hydro-distillation method with the yield was 8.5 ml/g. Phytochemical analysis was conducted to identify the presence of major bioactive compounds of the essential oil such as alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids and phenolic compounds. Bioactivity evaluation such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and larvicidal activity was performed. The maximum inhibitory concentration of essential oil was 75μg/ml with IC50 of 16.72 μg/ml and 26.18 μg/ml respectively for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay. Around 90% of larval mortality rate was observed at 100 μg/ml of essential oil. Mosquito repellent activity was evaluated for the formulation which demonstrated 76.6% protection against Aedes agepyti .