The effects of herbal essential oils on the oviposition-deterrent and ovicidal activities of Aedes aegypti (Linn.), Anopheles dirus (Peyton and Harrison) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say).

The effect of oviposition-deterrent and ovicidal of seven essential oils were evaluated towards three mosquito vectors, Aedes aegypti, Anopheles dirus and Culex quinquefasciatus. The oviposition activity index (OAI) values of six essential oils namely Cananga odorata, Cymbopogon citratus, Cymbopogon nardus, Eucalyptus citriodora, Ocimum basilicum and Syzygium aromaticum indicated that there were more deterrent than the control whereas Citrus sinensis oil acted as oviposition attractant. At higher concentration (10%) of Ca. odorata (ylang ylang flowers) showed high percent effective repellency (ER) against oviposition at 99.4% to Ae. aegypti, 97.1% to An. dirus and 100% to Cx. quinquefasciatus, respectively. The results showed that mean numbers of eggs were lower in treated than in untreated water. In addition, there was an inverse relationship between essential oil concentrations and ovicidal activity. As the concentration of essential oil increased from 1%, 5% and up to 10% conc., the hatching rate decreased. The essential oil of Ca. odorata at 10% conc. gave minimum egg hatch of 10.4% (for Ae. aegypti), 0.8% (for An. dirus) and 1.1% (for Cx. quinquefasciatus) respectively. These results clearly revealed that the essential oil of Ca. odorata served as a potential oviposition-deterrent and ovicidal activity against Ae. aegypti, An. dirus and Cx. quinquefasciatus.