Toxicity of Fusarium oxysporum-VKFO-01 Derived Silver Nanoparticles as Potential Inseciticide Against Three Mosquito Vector Species (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Mosquitoes are important public health pest transmitting major diseases such as dengue, malaria, zika and chikungunya. In the current study, isolation and identification of an entomopathogenic fungus was confirmed using 18s rDNA sequencing analysis. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized using Fusarium oxysporum-VKFO-01 culture filtrate with silver nitrate and green synthesized AgNPs were tested on larvae of Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. Fusarium oxysporum-VKFO-01 culture filtrate derived synthesized AgNPs were characterized using, UV–Vis spectroscopy, FT-IR, EDaX, XRD, SEM, TEM and AFM analysis. Larvicidal bioassay results show that strong mortality produced by F. oxysporum-VKFO-01 derived AgNPs. LC50 and LC90 values in An. stephensi, 69.985–401.639 μg/ml; Ae. aegypti, 42.942–272.842 μg/ml and Cx. quinquefasciatus, 97.557–706.962 μg/ml respectively. The present study shows that F. oxysporum-VKFO-01 derived green AgNPs are very effective against An. stephensi, Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquito larvae. Phylogenetic construction of 18s rDNA sequence was done for finding the taxonomic identification and the evolutionary steps of isolated Fusarium sp. Our evaluation highlighted those F. oxysporum-VKFO-01 culture filtrate mediated synthesized silver nanoparticles as a very effective green pesticide for control of mosquitoes.