DOCUMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF TRADITIONAL METHOD OF REPELLING INSECTS IN ANIMAL SHELTERS USING NEEM AND EUCALYPTUS LEAVES

Mosquitoes and flies lead to various vector borne diseases, create discomfort and stress to animals which in turn leads to reduction in milk production. This was the major constraint faced by the cattle rearing community of the Godavari basin. This problem was surpassed by the farmers in and around Paapi hills National Park using a simple yet very competent smoking mechanism with green leaves of Neem and Eucalyptus. It has been reported earlier that individually Neem and Eucalyptus preparations have been used successfully as fly repellant, insecticide but no literature was found regarding the use of Neem and Eucalyptus leaves smoking for repelling the flies and insects. Hence, an attempt was made to document this methodology and to prove its efficiency as fly and insect repellent. An experiment was conducted to study the effect of the smoke produced by neem and eucalyptus leaves in animal shelters. Study reveals that the percent efficiency of Neem and Eucalyptus smoke in preventing the mosquitoes and flies in the animal shelter was 73.68%.