LEMONGRASS RESEARCH PDF

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Insect repellents (also commonly called “bug sprays”) are substances applied to the skin, clothing, or other surfaces which discourages insects (and arthropods in general) from landing or climbing on that surface. They are important tools of public health to prevent infectious vector borne diseases (Goddard, 2002) and allergic reactions.

According to Amerasinghe (2006), major health gains and important

constraint on development in poor regions can be the results if there are actions to prevent arthropod borne diseases. These insect repellents help prevent and control the outbursts of insect borne diseases, dengue fever, stings and bites. Basically, a repellent is any chemical or natural product that causes insects or other arthropods to avoid or move away from the source of repellent and lemon grass can be used as a natural insect repellent.

Lemon grass is popularly used for medical, food and insect repellent products according to an article of new tech bio. Cosmetics, soaps, perfumes, dye and odorizes along with thousands of other products contains lemon grass oils. In the Philippines, its local name is “tanglad” and usually used in cooking. With that, the researchers gained interest in utilizing the plant as the main ingredient in the product due to its

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uncommonness in being utilized in the creation of alternative products, in this case, an insect repellent.

A number of repellent products contain chemical compound like DEET ( N, NDiethyl-meta-toluamide) used as active chemical component in insect repellent, are now turn to all natural ingredients as more and more negative data is released. Lemon grass is listed on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s and Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)’s list which means it is extremely safe (Gumban, 2019). Individuals everywhere throughout the world have come to depend on the strong insect repellent properties of lemon grass and use it as an individual and area spray.

Insect repellents may have different characteristics but serve the same purpose and it is keeping insects that carry disease away from us and from our area. The researchers had come to terms that this is the topic that we wanted to learn and talk about in our project. The researchers wanted to conduct a research about the effectiveness of lemon grass oil as a natural insect repellent. The researchers wanted to learn what the lemon grass oil will do to the mosquitoes and ants if they get close. The researchers wanted to study about this so that people will try to use natural (plantbased) repellents like lemon grass because it is very easy to make and use.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

PROCESS

INPUT

 

Lemongrass stalks and lemongrass oil

OUTPUT Efficacy of natural alternative insect repellent made from lemongrass oil

METHOD

Extraction Mixing of lemongrass oil to blended lemongrass, water and alcohol

Experimentation and observation of insect repellent in applying to skin

FACTORS TO OBSERVE -

Long lastingness Repellency Affordability Safety

Figure I. Analytical Framework of The Effectiveness of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon Citratus) as a Natural Alternative Insect Repellent 3

STATEMENT OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM This research aims to create a Natural Alternative Insect Repellent with the use of lemongrass oil. Specifically, the research aims to answer the following: 1. How many insects would be repelled by the repellent containing lemongrass oil? 2. How long does the effectivity of the lemongrass oil last? 3. Is lemongrass oil as an insect repellent; 3.1 affordable? 3.2 safe?

HYPOTHESES Alternative Hypothesis There is a significant difference in using lemongrass oil as an effective natural alternative insect repellent. Null Hypothesis There is no significant difference in using lemongrass oil as an effective natural alternative insect repellent.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study will be conducted for the benefit of the following: For the Future Researchers that this could serve as a guide for them in case they would be conducting the same study and that this could contribute useful information to them. For the Students in Senior High School that this could help them understand the significance of lemongrass as a main ingredient for making insect repellent and how safe it would be for them to use it every single day. For the Parents/Guardians that this will serve as a guide for taking care of their children and for keeping them safe. For the Society that this could give them knowledge about the importance of lemongrass as an insect repellent and to raise awareness on how to prevent insectborne diseases.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION This research focuses on the effectiveness of lemongrass oil as an alternative insect repellent. Due to having difficulties in finding test subjects, not all kinds of insects will be tried and tested. This study is limited to testing insect repellent made from lemongrass on mosquitoes and ants in an open area.

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DEFINITION OF TERMS Alcohol is the type of mixture used to neutralize lemongrass oil and water. Insect repellent refers to the output made from lemongrass oil. Lemongrass oil refers to the type of essential extracted from lemongrass stalks. Long-lastingness refers to the length of time for the repellency of lemongrass oil from insects. Safety means the appearance or no appearance of rashes. Repellency means the number of landing attempts of mosquitoes which is set at 25; the number of bite attempts of ants set at 24.

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE

The review of literature for this study focuses on the properties, benefits and effectiveness of Lemongrass as a Natural Insect Repellent. Using Lemongrass as an insect repellent with its pleasing aroma and overall effectiveness were evident through the related studies. The following factors are discussed further with its relation to the study: Foreign Literature 1. Insecticidal Properties of Lemongrass Lemongrass has insecticidal properties and the extracted oil is used as insect repellent. Its extracted will help repel mosquitoes. The oil of the lemongrass is extracted by steam distillation which is simply by pouring boiling water over foliage (Cruz, 2004). From the Weed Society of Pakistan (2019), it is stated that the components of lemongrass oil varied with where they are planned. Hence, major constituents of lemongrass oil are citral, geranoil, mycerence, citronellal, and limonene. According to homeguides.safegate.com, lemongrass gas large amount of geranial and neral and small amounts of geranoil and citronellal which are used for repelling insects. 7

Citronella Grass (Lemongrass) are the species used for production of citronella oil, which is used in soaps, as a mosquito repellent in insects sprays and candles, and also in aromatherapy. The oil of Citronella has been used for over 50 years as an insect repellent. Research has shown that citronella helps to reduce mosquito landing around 40%. It works on insects without harming or killing them. It has a distinctive odor which may make it difficult for some insect to locate the host (Ghosh, 2005). Local Literature 2. Benefits of Lemongrass Oil as Natural Alternative Insect Repellent As stated by organicfacts.net, some health benefits that lemongrass oil gives are analgesic, meaning they relieve pain. The oil is also an antidepressant, at the same time antibacterial. Aegis Pest Service states that, “Unlike the DEET insect repellent spray; which can be poisonous, lemongrass is organic and safe. It is also registered in the list of EPA-GRAS, or what the Environmental Protection Agency considers generally safe. It doesn’t contain any chemical substances that may irritate a sensitive skin immediately. Another certain benefit of making lemongrass as an insect repellent is its financial benefit, it is said that some bottle of lemongrass insect repellent costs Php 40.00 it is highly affordable than the other chemical insect repellent that can be brought in the market (Fernandez, 2013).

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Foreign Literature 3. Effectiveness of Natural Insect Repellent As said by thehealthvermont.gov, natural insect repellents are safer than DEET components of a repellent. The benefit of natural insect/mosquito repellent such as catnip, citronella, and lemongrass is that they can drive insects away because of their sweet and strong smell, herbs that contain these essential oils and other components that the insects dislike are effective in keeping the insects away, it is safer to say that children (that use these natural repellents) can play in the backyard and can do activities outdoors without worrying about insect bites. Lemongrass as an insect repellent is relatively effective, and its oil finds widespread use on its own or in combination with other similar compounds. Lemongrass should deter many bugs from ruining a nice night on the deck or a fun day of playing in the backyard. Lemongrass as a mosquito repellent works, though not as well as the strong, potentially harmful chemicals in commercial insecticides. The plant is also effective on ants and it helps prevent ant-borne diseases like E. Coli and Salmonella (Johnson, 2019).

There are some studies that in oils like lemongrass, lavender, peppermint, cedar, citronella, geranium and other mosquito- repellent plants will keep insects away for between thirty minutes and two hours. Generally speaking, these oils can be used topically without issue (George et. al., 2006).

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It should be noted that pure lemongrass oil can be hazardous to human skin. However, for safe use, you must dilute lemongrass oil with water or even alcohol (Aegis Pest Services, LTC., 2018).

In conclusion, lemongrass oil is really the important component of lemongrass that can be used as an insect repellent. Using lemongrass as insect repellent provides lots benefits such as health benefits and financial benefit which is its affordability. This, for safe use, lemongrass oil is mixed by water and alcohol. Furthermore, these related studies show the factors of lemongrass to make an alternative insect repellent.

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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter contains the process used in determining the effectiveness of Lemongrass. Moreover, this chapter includes the Research Design, Research Environment, Research Respondents, and Research Procedure. Research Design This study was experimental research design to collect and gather data. By conducting experiments on human’s hand and insects, specifically, mosquitoes and ants, this research hopes to show the efficacy of lemongrass oil as insect repellent. Research Environment This study was conducted at Christian Paul Labares’ Residence for it is safe and convenient to the fellow researchers. The location of this residence is in Catarman, Liloan, Cebu 6002 Philippines. Liloan is a municipality in the northern part of Cebu Province. The researchers chose to do the experiment in this area since the marials used for the experiment were easily provided. Research Subject The research subjects to be observed and experimented were the mosquitoes and ants. These specific insects were chosen for they have this characteristic in which they would bite exposed skin of a human if it was not applied with any insect repellent

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product. Since the main goal of this research was to test and prove the efficacy of lemongrass as a natural insect repellent, mosquitoes and ants were suitable to be the subjects because of this specific characteristic and diseases that may cause harm for the humans such as Malaria, Salmonella, and E. Coli. On the other hand, human subject was chosen through a sampling technique that belongs to the Non-Probability sampling technique which is the Convenience sampling because the participant was selected based on availability and willingness to take part for this experiment. Research Instruments The data obtained for this study will be gathered from the series of experiments conducted. The researchers of this study will use various extraction tools for the extraction process such as a strainer, curve pot cover and a stainless or steel glass receiving vessel. For making the lemongrass insect repellent mixture, the researchers will use lemongrass essential oil, chopped lemongrass, water and alcohol. Research Procedure Data Gathering. The data were obtained from experiments conducted. A. Preparation Process Twenty (20) estimated lemongrass leaves with its roots will be collected for the extraction process. The lemongrass leaves will be cleaned and dried before doing the extraction process to avoid other substances to be extracted

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during the process. The extracted lemongrass substance will be stored in a bottle. B. Extraction Process Extracting the lemongrass oil will be done through Steam Distillation Process as most of the essential oils are extracted using the method. Steam Distillation Process is technique used for separating substances which are immiscible with water, volatile in steam and having high vapor pressure at the boiling temperature of water. This process can be used for purifying liquids with very high boiling points which separates organic compounds from plant parts. (E.g. Lemongrass oil, Eucalyptus oil, etc.) The researchers intend to use improvised apparatus such as a strainer, a curve pot cover, and a stainless or steel glass receiving vessel that is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2. Improvised set up of Steam Distillation Process with labeled parts.

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Below illustrates the procedures of the extraction: 

The first thing to do is to set the pot filled with purified water on the heat source. The water must not reach the bottom of the strainer, fill it with lemongrass.



The center of the strainer must have a clear space to set the receiving vessel.



Position the pot cover inside – out of the strainer and make sure that the tip is centered over the receiving vessel.



The pot must be filled with ice as much as it can hold.



Boil it up and gather the necessary amount of lemongrass extract from the receiving vessel.

C. Making the Insect Repellent In making the lemongrass insect repellent mixture, the following are the materials needed: 

10ml of lemongrass essential oil



10ml of water



10ml of alcohol

Below shows the procedure on making insect repellent out of lemongrass oil: 

Mix the essential oil, water and alcohol.



Pour the mixture in a spray bottle.

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PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA This chapter presents the statistical analysis and interpretation of the data gathered. Table 1. Results of the Experiment in Observing the Product’s Long-lastingness

Factor to be observed

Types of Insect Mosquitoes 3 hours

Ants 2 hours and 30 minutes

Long-lastingness

The Table 1 showed the results of the experiment in terms of the product’s long – lastingness. With what has been discussed in the review of related literature, according to George et. al. (2006), lemongrass and other insect– repellent plants will keep insects away for between 30 minutes and two hours. It is connected to the time frame of the repellency of lemongrass for ants as it repelled for 2 hours and 30 minutes while in mosquitoes, it is effective for 3 hours.

Table 2. Results of the Experiment in Observing the Product’s Safety

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Safety

Mosquitoes

Ants

With rashes

Without rashes

The results shown in the Table 2 is about the product’s safety. As said by thehealthvermont.gov, natural insect repellents are safer than DEET components of a repellent. In our data, the repellent is safe since it didn’t cause itchiness and does not trigger any allergies to the skin of the human subject.

Table 3. Results of the Experiment in Observing of the Product’s Affordability

Factor to be observed

Yes

Affordable

✔

No

(100% affordable)

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The Table 3 showed the results of the experiment in terms of the affordability of the product. According to Fernandez (2013), it is said that some bottle of lemongrass insect repellent costs Php 40.00 while in doing our experiment, it didn’t cost us anything since every materials we used were found at home, we only spent money for our transportation to go at our research environment.

Table 4. Results of the Experiment in Observing the Repellency of the Product Attempts

Frequency

Percent

Mosquito landing attempts

25/25

Repel

Ant bite attempts

24/24

Repel

The Table 4 showed the results of the experiment in terms of the product’s repellency. As observed, 25 mosquitoes attempted to land for 25 times while 24 ants attempted to bite 24 times It was proven that it can 100% repel mosquitoes, specifically, 25 mosquito landing attempts. Moreover, when it comes to ants, the product can 100% repel 24 attempted ant bites.

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CHAPTER V SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION FINDINGS Based on the results gathered, the researchers have found out the following: 1. The rate of the product’s long – lastingness when it comes to mosquitoes was longer compared to its long – lastingness to ants. In mosquitoes, it repelled within 3 hours. While in ants, it repelled 2-3 hours. 2. The product did not trigger any allergies or rashes on human subject hence, it was 100% safe to use. 3. In creating the product, it was only home – made by the researchers and did not cost anything since the researchers used materials found at home so it was considered affordable for the researchers but if there’s no lemongrass available at home, our option is to buy lemongrass stalks at the market which costs 5php. 4. For the product’s repellency on mosquitoes, it has been proved that it can 99% repel mosquitoes, specifically, 20 mosquito landing attempts. Moreover, when it comes to ants, the product can 100% repel 24 attempted ant bites.

CONCLUSIONS Based on the foregoing findings, the researchers drawn out the following conclusions: 18

1. The product was 100% safe to use as it didn’t cause allergies or itchiness to the skin. 2. The product was affordable to make since the researchers didn’t cost anything upon making the repellent. 3. The product was able to withstand for as long as 3 hours upon repelling the mosquitoes and 2 hours and 30 minutes upon repelling the ants. 4. The overall outcome of testing the insect repellent was effective in a way that it repelled mosquito landing attempts and ant-bites attempts.

RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the foregoing findings and conclusions, the researchers would recommend the following: For the Future Researchers who would like to conduct the experiment that in extracting the lemongrass oil from the lemongrass stalks, Steam Distillation could also be done at home. Even though the researchers couldn’t afford to conduct experiment in the laboratory, there’s still an alternative method in doing the steam distillation process. However, it is highly recommended that the future researchers should perform the Steam Distillation Process with the exact apparatus to improve this study by adding more relevant and accurate data.

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For the Students in Senior High School that lemongrass has insecticidal properties and the extracted oil is...