Bioassay studies on the reaction of Aedes aegypti & Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) on different attractants.

Abstract

BackgroundThe studies on mosquito attractants had been develop intensively in the recent years. However, the study on fruit peel extract as mosquito attractant was scarce, even though various fruits had demonstrated the ability to attract different types of mosquito species.ObjectiveThis study aims to determine the potential of Carica papaya (papaya) and Ananas comosus (pineapple) peel extracts to attract Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti.MethodsThe Aedes mosquitoes response to the fruit peel extracts were conducted in the no-choice and choice assay using modified olfactometer. The Preference Index (PI) in each assay was calculated and arcsine transformed before conducting independent t–test to determine the significant different between the mean arcsine transformed PI and the tested hypothesis mean PI.ResultNo choice assay indicate both Aedes species have significant attraction to the papaya and pineapple peel extracts (p < 0.05). In choice assay, Ae. albopictus is revealed to equally attracted to the papaya and pineapple peel extracts (p > 0.05) while Ae. aegypti is significantly attracted to the papaya peel extract (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe study had identified that both fruit peel extracts able to attract Aedes mosquitoes with Ae. albopictus is equally attracted to papaya and pineapple peel extracts while Ae. aegypti is more attracted to the papaya peel extract than the pineapple peel extract.