Evaluation of the larvicidal activity ginger essential oil

In the search for new chemical substances that provide an alternative control against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, various studies have been developed and encouraged in order to discover new plant-based insecticides to combat it. In this study, the essential oil of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger) was extracted from the rhizomes. Subsequently, the larvicidal effect of the oil against third-stage larvae of the Aedes aegypti mosquito (Linnaeus, 1792) was analysed. The essential oil of ginger was extracted by hydrodistillation and its physicochemical properties were then determined. Analytical characterisation was performed by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography (GC-MS). The LC50 was also calculated using the Reed-Muench (1938) and Pizzi (1950) methods, respectively. Eighteen components were identified in the oil, and the majority presence of ¿-zingiberene was confirmed by spectroscopic techniques (GC-MS). The essential oil obtained a LC50 of 76.07 (±2.24) ¿g mL-1. The results indicate that the essential oil studied is composed of substances that provide a larvicidal effect against the Aedes aegypti mosquito.