Associate Professor, Department of Plant Production Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, KingMongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand

Keynote Abstract:

Currently, mosquito vectors are major medical insect pests in Southeast Asian countries, throughout Asia as well as other areas of the world and they are serious vectors of human and animal diseases such as dengue hemorrhagic fever, malaria, zika, filariasis and heartworm. However, most chemical insecticides have lost the efficacy for mosquito vector control and mosquitoes have developed resistance to them. More importantly, chemical insecticides also have toxic side effect to humans and the environment. Therefore, plant essential oils are one of the best alternatives to chemical insecticides because they are eco-friendly and nontoxic to humans, beneficial insects and non- target organisms, and they have been shown to be easily biodegraded in soil, water and environment. Moreover, the essential oils from Libiatae, Piperaceae, Zingiberaceae, Rutaceae, Illiciaceae and Umbelliferae plants exhibited high toxicity to larvae, pupae and adults of mosquito vectors. In addition, the major chemical constituents of plant essential oils were monoterpenoids and sesquiterpene such as cineol, geraniol, limoneme, terpineol, neolidol and caryophyllene, and monoterpenoids caused mortality of insects by inhibiting the activity of acetylcholinesterase enzyme in the nervous system of the insects. Thus, plant essential oils can be used as an effective eco-friendly agents for mosquito vector control.