Effect of plumbagin on gonadotrophic cycle of the housefly, Musca domestica L.

Topical treatment of the phytochemical plumbagin in doses ranging 0.005-5 micrograms prevented oocyte development and affected fecundity and fertility in M. domestica. The treatment to wandering larvae was less effective as the compound could only effect the fertility to a significant level whereas the fecundity was not significantly reduced. The effect of the compound was more pronounced in adult treatments where both fecundity and fertility reduced drastically. The compound also effected the oocyte maturation as it arrested the development of vitellogenic oocyte at stage six. As the juvenile hormone analogue methoprene and moulting hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone or the mixture of these hormones could not restore the development of the oocyte in ovaries of plumbagin treated flies, it is concluded that the compound does not effect the female houseflies through hormonal pathways, instead in all probability it acts like a cytotoxic compound.