Abstract
Herbal products are cheaper and effective than chemical based mosquito repellent, therefore an attempt has been madeto prepare a 100% herbal product based on traditional practices and rural wisdom. Present study was conducted for effectiveutilization of Basak (Adhatoda zeylanica Medik. syn. A. vasica Nees) as a mosquito repellent. Seven varieties of productswere prepared from its leaves with different natural compositions. Study results revealed that maximum percentage ofweight loss with V7 variety followed by V1 and lowest in variety V6. Almost all varieties of bio-cake burned within 35 – 45minutes except variety V5, which took 60 minutes to complete burning. Variety V6 showed highest ash content (7.70 g) andlowest ash was recorded for V5 (1.67 g) after complete burning. The emission of CO2, CO and O3 was recorded as V2>V4>V3>V5 ≈ V7>V1>V6; V5>V6>V1>V7>V4>V2>V3 and V5>V3 ≈ V4 ≈ V7>V2>V1>V6, respectively during burning ofbio-cake. On the other hand knock down experiment demonstrated that almost all varieties of bio-cakes are effective asmosquito repellent. But only two varieties (V6 and V7) caused more than 50% knock down. Finally the emission of gaseousproduct was compared with a synthetic mosquito coil.