HERBAL MOSQUITO REPELLENT SPRAY FROM CITRONELLA (CYMBOPOGON) OIL

The present study was conducted to evaluate the mosquito repellent activity of selected plant materials to develop safe and effective herbal mosquito repellent formulations by combining these materials. Seeds of Azadirachta indica were soaked in hexane overnight, and the extract was filtered and concentrated using a rotary evaporator.1) The same procedure was followed for leaves of Vitex negundo using both hexane and ethanol as solvents. Hydro-distillation was carried out using a Clevenger apparatus to obtain essential oils from the leaves of Ocimum sanctum, the rhizomes of Curcuma longa, and the peels of Citrus sinensis. Essential oils of Cymbopogon nardus leaves, Eucalyptus globulus leaves, and Syzygium aromaticum buds were procured from a trusted source. Ethanol solutions containing 10% (v/v) of each extract or essential oil were prepared and tested for mosquito repellent activity using the arm-in-cage method. In this method, a volunteer’s forearm treated with 1 ml of the test solution was exposed to a cage containing 20 blood-seeking mosquitoes, and the number of mosquitoes that landed or attempted to bite the arm was recorded each minute for five minutes. Three replicates were conducted for each sample. After analyzing the repellency of each individual extract. KEY WORDS : Cymbopogon nardus , Ocimum sanctum , Syzygium aromaticum , Curcuma Longa.