Utilization of Indigenous Plants as Mosquito Repellent

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

One of the major problems of Department of Education and DOH has been battling with is the dengue and other mosquito-related illnesses. In the Philippines, numerous plants repel mosquitoes including lemongrass and oregano for its strong scented-aroma. This study attempts to ascertain the degree of repellency of the said indigenous plants against Aedes aegypti and to use it as mosquito repellent with no side effect, as an alternative to synthetic chemical repellents.

METHODS

This study is an experimental research design and utilized the Completely Randomized Design in determining the degree of repellency of lemongrass and oregano oil extracts when mixed with bees wax candles. For a candle repellent, a 210mL bees-wax is mixed with 5mL oil extracts. It utilized four different treatments replicated four times. Treatment 1 is a combination of bees wax and lemongrass oil extract, second treatment consists of bees wax and oregano oil extracts, third consists of bees wax and combination of lemongrass and oregano oil extracts, and the fourth treatment which is also the control group consists only of pure beeswax. Degree of repellency was measured by counting the mosquitoes that repelled or died every 5 minutes for a period of fifteen minutes when placed inside an aquarium with lighted candle repellent.

RESULTS

Findings revealed that candle repellent, with combination of both lemongrass and oregano oil extracts are more effective repellent than those candles with lemongrass oil extract only or oregano oil extract only. It was also found out that in a matter of 15 minutes,100% of the mosquitoes inside the experiment aquarium repelled with candle repellent consists of the combination of lemongrass and oregano oil extracts; and the degrees of repellency of the 4 treatments studied are significantly different among each other whether in a 5,10, and 15 minute-experiment.

DISCUSSIONS

From the results, the hypothesis that there is no significant difference on the degree of repellency against mosquito between and among the four treatments is partly upheld, while lemongrass and oregano extracts did not differ significantly, but when compared with combination and control, the difference is significant. The study recommends to encourage planting of lemongrass and oregano plants in school and in backyards of every residence, it also be used as inputs in the development of mosquito repellent using oregano, lemongrass or combination of lemongrass and oregano oil extracts as possible business opportunity.