Chemical characterization; Antimicrobial and Larvicidal activity of essential oil from Callistemon citrinus (Bottle brush) leaves

Mosquito-borne diseases are prevalent in more than 100 countries across the world. They are the major vectors for transmission of Malaria, dengue, yellow fever, filariasis, schistosomiasis, Japanese encephalitis etc. Many of the formerly employed insecticides in mosquito control have harmful effects on human health and other non-target populations, their non-biodegradable nature, the higher rate of bio-magnification in our ecosystem and increasing insecticide resistance on global scale are raising serious concerns. . Therefore, search for natural, eco-friendly alternatives such as bio-insecticides is imperative. In this study, Larvicidal activity of the essential oil obtained from the leaves of Callistemon citrinus was tested on Dengue vector mosquito Aedes aegypti & Chikungunya vector mosquito Culex sp. Also, the chemical composition of the essential oil was recorded using GC-MS analysis. The anti-microbial activity of the essential oil was checked against a few common bacteria and fungi. Callistemon citrinus comes out to be one of such bio-insecticides with many therapeutic active constituents, showing appreciable anti-microbial activity and 80-100% larvicidal activity.