Lemongrass (cymbopogon Citratus) Decoction a Natural Mosquito Repellent

ABSTRACT

        CYRIL C. DERIADA, CAMILLE P. HUDIEREZ, ROXANE P. MUGATAR. Central Philippines State University Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, May 2014. “LEMONGRASS (Cymbopogon citratus) DECOCTION A NATURAL MOSQUITO REPELLENT”.

Adviser: Joehaida S. Oquias

        This study was conducted on January 2014 to April 2014 at the science laboratory of College of Teacher Education of Central Philippines State University, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental. It aimed to determine the effectiveness of the lemongrass decoction in different levels of concentration used as mosquito repellent; to identify the number of mosquitoes that attached to the cloth (black sock) soaked in different concentrations of decoction; to determine the effectiveness of different levels of concentration of lemongrass decoction as mosquito repellent in terms of time interval; and to differentiate the effectiveness of the different levels of concentrations of lemongrass decoction treatments.

The study focused on the decoction of 250g (750 g) lemongrass leaves in each of the different treatments such as 1L, 500ml, and 250 ml distilled water. This treatment was used in soaking the attractant (black sock) and was introduced to 30 mosquitoes. The treatment was replicated 4 times with the total of 16 replications.

Based on the data gathered, the treatment that got the lowest mean was the treatment B and the highest was the controlled treatment A; however, the Analysis of Variance ANOVA was used in determining the level of significance, it showed that there was no significant difference among the treatments in terms of time interval that the socks have been exposed to the mosquitoes and between the effectiveness of the different levels of concentrations of lemongrass decoction treatments to the controlled. This implies that the data are not sufficient to show that lemongrass decoction was effective when used as a repellent.