The Effectiveness of Atis (Annona squamosa) Leaves Extract as a Spray Repellent to Mosquito

Abstract

Mosquitoes are hazardous insects. They can carry diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, zika virus, yellow fever, bacteria, etc., easily transferred in humans. The researchers produced a safer mosquito spray repellent from the Atis (Anonna squamosa) leaves extract to solve such an issue. The researchers used an experimental design to gather information about the effectiveness of Atis (Annona squamosa) leaves extract as a spray repellent for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes were exposed to different concentrations of the extract (5%,15%,47%) inside an improvised mosquito cage. First landing, the number of mosquitoes that landed and protection time were observed. Anova test results revealed a significant difference between the effectiveness of Atis (Annona squamosa) leaves extract and commercially available insect repellent. The highest repellency rate of Atis leaves extract was found with 47% concentration (100%) within 3 minutes and had a complete protection time of 6 minutes. With that, the researchers concluded a significant difference in the frequency of landing of mosquitoes treated with the formulated concentration and the commercially available mosquito repellent, and the concentrated Atis (Annona squamosa) leaf extract has entirely different levels of effectiveness.