ABSTRACT
The bioefficacy of mats, coils and dispensers containing allethrin group of synthetic pyrethroids was studied against laboratory strains of Culex quinquefasciatus, Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi. Except esbiothrin in the mat formulation which was 100 and 178 times more effective against Cx. quinquefasciatus than against Ae. aegypti and An. stephensi with KT50 of 0.005, 0.5 and 0.89 min. respectively, all the three allethrins in mat or coil formulations were equally effective against the three vector mosquitoes. When compared to mat formulations of d-allethrin and bioallethrin, mat formulation of esbiothrin was 156 and 144 times more effective against Cx. quinquefasciatus. It was 162 times more effective against Cx. quinquefasciatus than in the coil formulation. Dispenser containing d-allethrin was the least effective against Cx. quinquefasciatus (KT50: 2.65 min.) and Ae. aegypti (KT50: 4.68 min.) but as effective as coil against An. stephensi. When mat and dispenser heated or coil burnt continuously for 10 hours the knockdown was consistently above 60% in all the three vector species but mortality was not consistently > 60% in Ae. aegypti. Repellent effect of the formulations ranged from 0.0 to 80.3%, 0 to 57.3% and 59.2 to 78.3% against Cx. quinquefasciatus Ae. aegypti and An. stephensi respectively. Repellency was more against An. stephensi than against the other two species. Mats and coils deterred > 50% of the mosquitoes from feeding on the chicken (range: 50 to 99.52%) but in case of dispenser the effect was only 14.72 to 65.01%. The use of these formulations as a control tools in reducing man-vector contact is discussed.