DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2015.v03i05.005

Pages: 443-451

As an alternative to chemical insecticides, plant extracts showing insecticidal properties are being increasingly used nowadays in insect pest management programs. With a view to an eco-friendly approach, here we report some bio-active properties of whole-plant boiled extracts of three indigenous plant species viz., Calotropis procera (Aiton), Piper longum L. and Polygonum hydropiper L., in a housefly model. Efficacies of the whole-plant aqueous extracts of three indigenous plant species viz., Calotropis procera (Aiton), Piper longum L. and Polygonum hydropiper L., have been assayed for control of the common housefly, Musca domestica L. Using bioassays against the 2nd instar larvae, the estimated LC50 values for the three plant extracts were 557.89µL, 981.02µL and 773.27µL, respectively, suggesting C. procera as the most effective plant under study. Data on vital reproductive attributes of the experimental flies revealed that the egg-laying and egg-hatch (P<0.001), and the numbers of pupae and adults, and female ratios (P<0.05) were all reduced significantly by the application of the extracts in housefly culture media, whereas the apparent lengthened larval duration and reduced longevity of the adults were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Interestingly, C. procera extracts at higher concentrations yielded 21.54% deformed pupae and 11.76% deformed adults which failed to survive. Implications of these findings in terms of developing a plant-based bio-insecticide for M. domestica having eco-friendly, safer and economic benefits have been discussed.