Larvicidal activities of a neem cake fractions on aedes albopictus

There is an urgent need for ecologically sound, equitable and ethical pest management, based on control agents that are pest-specific, nontoxic to humans and other biota, biodegradable, less prone to pest resistance and resurgence and relatively less expensive. The last aspect is fundamental for a large scale use in emerging countries. Among various options concerning botanical bio-pesticides, neem has been identified as a source of eco-friendly soft natural pesticides. We report our results in scientific validation of neem cake, a by-product of seed neem oil production. Neem cake was selected on the basis of low cost, sustainability, availability of enormous quantities, other uses in agriculture and possible direct utilization. However, the proposal had to face the possibility of different compositions of marketed neem cakes and their corresponding activities. Furthermore, neem cakes compositions resulted so different from the neem oil ones to make necessary a re-writing of the chemistry chapter. The last episode of this research is here reported with new data concerning the larvicidal activities of neem cake extracts at different compositions.