Excito-Repellency Effects of Salvia sclarea L. (Lamiaceae) Extracts on Adult House Flies, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae)

Background: medicinal plant extracts such as those obtainedfrom salvia species have a wide variety of chemical compoundsin their essential oils. the repellency of a number of essentialoils including those from the labiates like salvia against severalinsect species including the common house flies is reported.objective: the aim of this investigation was to find out theexcito-repellency effects of salvia sclarea l. (lamiaceae)extracts against adult house flies, musca domestica l. (diptera:muscidae).methods: air-dried plant material from the aerial parts of s.sclarea was subjected to hydro-distillation in a clevenger typeglass apparatus model soxhlet with acetone, benzene, petroleumether, chloroform, and aqueous solvents. only adult house flieswere inserted into an exposure chamber and their behavior wasmonitored for feeding tendency, repellency rate and deterrencerate. statistical analyses were carried out by one-way analysisof variance (anova) with computation of the significance ofdifferences in the outcome of various treatments.results: there were significant differences among most of thevarious extracts with their controls in the sequential effects offeeding (p=0.04), deterrent (p=0.023) and repellency (p=0.01)rates of house flies. the order of potency for various extractswith a concentration of 100 g/l was as follows: petroleum ether > benzene > water > acetone > chloroform.conclusion: it is thus conceivable to search for native means ofcombating house flies by fractionating the active ingredients inthe clary sage in the light of its excito-repellency effects.