Present study deals with comparison of three essential oils (neem, vetiver and mint) against the most common termite species of Pakistan, Heterotermes indicola (Wasmann). Oils were tested for repellency, toxicity and fumigation against H. indicola. Results revealed that vetiver oil was most toxic killing 60% termites at 25 g/ l while neem and mint oils showed 54% and 56.66% mortality rate, respectively, at the same concentration. When tested for repellency, vetiver oil proved to be the most effective repellent because of its long lasting activity. In a fumigation test, all three oils were...

In this study mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA sequences were isolated by PCR, sequenced and used to infer a molecular phylogeny.Termites were sampled from different localities of Pakistan and analysed morphologically.DNA was extracted from individual whole alcohol preserved worker termites. That were freeze dried, using DNeasy tissue kit. The DNA extraction protocols were defined.Then DNA Sequencing was done, DNA sequence alignments also done using Clustral method with weighted residue weight table in DNA star software.This study would provide baseline data on genotypic variability for...

Synthetic insecticides have been the major control method of insect pests since 1950s. The widespread and unwise use of insecticides has resulted in the development of insect strains that are resistant to insecticides. The level of insecticide resistance was evaluated in two economically important stored grain pests, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Rhyzopertha dominica (Fabricius) in the present study. Resistance level was checked against one organophosphate and four pyrethroid insecticides by using filter paper method and residual film method. Mortality was recorded after 48 hours of...