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The present study deals with the green synthesis of silver nanoparticle from the aqueous leaf extracts of Leucas aspera and Hyptis suaveolens as reducing agent and to investigate the larvicidal activity of synthesized silver nanoparticles. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized by Ultraviolet and visible absorption spectroscopy (UV), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray spectroscopy (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and High-resonance transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis. The nanoparticles are spherical, hexagonal, triangular and polyhedral in shape and the size of the Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of L. aspera was found to be in the range of 7–22 nm and AgNPs of H. suaveolens was 5–25 nm. Larvicidal bioassay with synthesized AgNPs synthesized from L. aspera and H. suaveolens extract, showed 100% mortality at 10 mg/L against Aedes aegypti, Anopheles stephensi and Culex quinquefasciatus with LC50 of 4.02, 4.69, 5.06 mg/L and LC90 of 11.22, 12.09, 12.74 mg/L and LC50 of 4.63, 4.04, 3.52 mg/L and LC90 of 12.07, 10.99, 09.61 respectively. These results suggest that the synthesized AgNPs of L. aspera and H. suaveolens have the potential to be used as an ideal eco-friendly agent for the control of the mosquito larvae.

Purpose Vermicomposting is an environmentally and economically friendly process to decompose organic waste. India's agro-industrial sector contributes huge resources of plant materials in the form of compost. In this study, 50% of vermicompost was compared with plant growth enhancers on the exo-morphological features of C. annum. A significant plant growth was recorded in plants treated with Vermicompost. The present study aims to promote soil health and its plant growth providing effects further substantiating the use of organic amendments instead of fertilizers. Vermicompost contains a combination of macro-and micro-nutrients and the uptake of the nutrients has a positive effect on plant nutrition, growth, photosynthesis and chlorophyll content of the leaves. Methods Pot studies were carried out in ten replicates and four soil amendment treatments: (1) Control, 100 ml distilled water (2) 50% Vermicompost of soil (3) 10 ml of Gibberellic Acid + 90 ml deionised water (GA + 100 µg/ml)-10 ml Indole Acetic Acid + 90 ml deionised water. Pots were planted with C. annum and the measurements of studied traits (length of shoot, length of internode, leaves number and number of branches were determined. Results The effect of plant growth enhancers like GA, IAA was compared with 50% vermicompost applications. Significant improvement in all the parameters, like length of shoot, length of inter node, number of leaves and number of branches was observed in plants at the end of 3rd, 4th and 5th weeks of treatment. Conclusion Plants treated with 50% vermicompost showed significant growth than Gibberellic acid (GA)-and Indole acetic acid (IAA)-treated plants. These results clearly indicate that vermicompost can be exploited as a potent biofertilizer.

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