Abstract. Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti) has been used for mosquito-control programmes the world-wide. Indeed, the large-scale production of Bti for mosquito control is very expensive due to the high cost of its culture. In the present study, we attempted to widen the scope in developing cost-effective culture medium for Bti production, based on the raw materials available on the biosphere, including coconut cake powder, CCP (Cocos nucifera), neem cake powder, NCP (Azadirachta indica) and groundnut cake powder, GCP (Arachis hypogea). Among these raw materials, the biomass production of Bti, sporulation and toxin synthesizing from ‘CCP’ in combination with mineral salt (MnCl2) was comfortably satisfactory. Bioassays with mosquito species (Culex quinquefasciatus, Anopheles stephensi and Aedes aegypti) and field trials were also satisfactory. The present investigation suggests that coconut cake-based culture medium can be used as an alternative for industrial production of Bti in mosquito-control programme. Therefore, the study is very important from the point of effective production of Bti from cost-effective culture medium for the control of mosquito vectors.

Control of mosquitoes is the most important aspect of public health, as mosquitoes transmit many human diseases, including the fatal infection, Japanese encephalitis. This paper addresses the isolation of new mosquitocidal bacteria from soil samples in the Union Territory of Pondicherry, India, where, no clinical cases of vector borne infections have been reported. Bacterial isolates from soil samples were screened for potential mosquitocidal strains and bioassays against mosquito vectors (Culex quinquefasciatus, Anopheles stephensi and Aedes aegypti) were carried out. Genomic DNA of potential mosquitocidal isolates was amplified and species identification was carried out using BLASTn program (NCBI). Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA sequences of mosquitocidal bacteria revealed seven potential isolates. SDS-PAGE results have shown that there was considerable difference in the protein profiles. Numerical analysis revealed 4 distinct groups at similarity level 25%. The relationship between VBDs and prevalence of soil mosquitocidal bacteria in the study sites has elicited considerable interest in the diversity of mosquitocidal bacteria and their application for mosquito borne diseases control.