Oviposition response of the mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus to the secondary metabolite(s) of the fungus, Trichoderma viride

Secondary metabolites produced by Trichoderma viride, a deuteromycetes fungus, under submerged culture condition were formulated and evaluated for oviposition attractancy against gravid females of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito. At a concentration of 10 æg ml-1 the formulation showed remarkable attractancy with an oviposition active index (OAI) of +0.52. When the oviposition attractancy of the formulation was compared with a known oviposition attractant, p-cresol, both at 10 æg ml-1, the former was found to be more attractive to result in 70 percent egg laying than the later with 30 percent egg laying. Thin layer chromatography fractions of the secondary metabolites showed that a fraction with Rf value of 0.88 was highly active as oviposition attractant with an OAI of +0.65. Further work on identification of the active principle(s) of the microbial formulation might lead to an oviposition attractant useful in mosquito vector management

Rapid Dot enzyme immuno assay for the quantitation of rabies antibodies.

A rapid dot enzyme immuno assay (Dot ELISA) for rabies antibody estimation has been standardized in which nitrocellulose sheet has been used as a solid support absorbing a commercial tissue culture rabies vaccine as antigen. The test was compared with a standard plate ELISA test. The results were comparable and the student "t' test for proportion revealed that plate ELISA test is significantly better (P 0.05) when compared to Dot ELISA for the number of sera with titre < 0.5 Iu/ml and in the case of > 0.5 IU/ml Dot ELISA is found to be better over plate ELISA test at the same significance level.