LARVICIDAL ACTIVITY OF INVASIVE WEEDS CASSIA UNIFLORA AND SYNEDRELLA NODIFLORA

Abstract

Cassia uniflora and Synedrella nodiflora are the dominant invasive weeds in the campus of
Pune University (M.S.) India. Their allelopathic activity has greatly affected the phytodiversity in the
campus. With the view of their huge biomass prospecting, the larvicidal potential of aqueous leaf
leachates of these weed species were tested against the larvae of Aedes aegypti. The experiments
revealed that leaf leachates of both the weeds showed lethal effects on the larvae. The effect of
Synedrella nodiflora leaf leachates was more pronounced than that of Cassia uniflora. The mortality
was observed to increase with increasing exposure and the concentrations of leaf leachates of both
the weeds. This larvicidal activity was probably due to the presence of allelochemicals present in
the leaf leachates of these two plants. HPTLC was used to analyze these allelochemicals, which
revealed that the leaves of both the plants were containing terpenoids, steroids, flavonoids and
pungent and bitter essential oils.