The Effectiveness Of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon

Citrate) And Eucalyptus (Globulus Labill)

Extract As Mosquito Repellent

A SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL RESEARCH PAPER

PRESENTED TO THE

FACULTY OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

OF (insert School and branch)

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE SUBJECT PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

Maureen Sambrano
Statement of the problem

This study entitled “Lemongrass Oil as an alternative insect repellent” aims to create an
effective repellent that can be equal to commercially sold ones. The oil is made out of
lemongrass, herbs that are easy to grow and take care of. Because of the existing insect related
diseases, the researchers wanted to be able to make a product which is affordable, or can be
made by the populace. The herb lemongrass has a lot of benefits. It can be antibacterial, a pain
reliever and many more. It can also be used in cooking, specifically in Asian cuisine. The
researchers conducted two trials in creating the product. Both trials used different methods, and a
different type of oil. The result of the first trial (olive oil) did not reach the standards of the
researchers, so it was decided that a second trial will be performed. The second trial (unsc-ented
massaging oil) was successful, and it was able to achieve the goal of the research.

Insect repellents are important tools for prevention of insect-borne diseases as well as painful
or uncomfortable insect bites. And one of natural insect repellent is the lemon grass
(Cymbopogon citrate). Determining the effectiveness of lemon grass as insect repellent is the
main goal of the study. Specially, it intends to apply the steam Distillation Technique in
obtaining the natural elements and essential oil of lemon grass such as citral and citronella. Using
two candles as observation, one is with extract of lemon grass and the other is without extract of
lemon grass. In fourteen(14) minutes, one candy that without lemon grass, approach by ants but
the candy with lemon grass is just ignored by ants. The study has found out that lemon grass is
an effective and alternative natural insect repellent. The result of the present study would provide
knowledge and information about lemon grass as insect repellent. Additionally, this study will
produce significant and relevant information for future studies regarding to insect repellent.

Significance of the study

This study benefited the following using the researchers’ product:

Families, not all families are not financially stable. Some families can afford expensive mosquito
repellents.

Students and children are mostly affected by mosquito bites. Mosquito repellent will enable them
to prevent diseases such as Malaria and Dengue.

In addition to that, the researchers found the study useful since it can be used as a basis for future
researches related to this study. Through this study, the knowledge of people regarding to the
eucalyptus and lemongrass as mosquito repellent would increase and the prevention could be
done to avoid serious damages to the people’s health.

Research Questions
1. What is the relationship of the concentration to the number of repelled
mosquitoes?
2. What is the best formulation of the researchers’ product?
3. What are the significant advantages of using organic ingredients as mosquito
repellent in terms of cost and consistency?
Research Instrument

Experimental Method is the research method that will be used by the researchers. The research
design will be used is the one shot case study.

Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation of Data

Since the tools to be used have been identified, the next thing to do is to gather data. The
researchers’ mainly focused in the efficiency of the product, the researchers’ randomly chose the
respondents to help conduct the experiment. They now proceed in gathering the data of the first
problem:

1.)What is the relationship of the concentration to the number of repelled mosquitoes?

-There is no significant relationship of the researchers’ product to the number of

repelled mosquitoes.

Table No. 1. The number of mosquito bites with the concentration of 75% lemongrass and 25%
eucalyptus extract

Respondent Number of mosquito bites

1 3

2 3

3 5

4 4
 3+3+5+4 - 16 =4
4 4

As shown in Table No. 1, respondent number 1 and 2 has the same number of mosquito
bites which is 3 while respondent number 3 has 5 bites and respondent 4 has 4 bites. The
computed mean was 4. This means the average number of mosquito bites for set up A is
4.

Table no. 2. The number of mosquito bites with the concentration of 60% lemongrass
and 40% eucalyptus extract

Respondent Number of mosquito bites

Respondent Number of mosquito bites

1 3

2 2

3 4

4 2

3+ 2+4+4 = 13 = 3.25
4 4

As shown in Table No. 2, respondent number 2 and 4 has the same number of mosquito
bites which is 2 while respondent number 1 has 3 bites and respondent 43has 4 bites. The
computed mean was 3.25. This means the estimated average number of mosquito bites
for set up B is 3.

Table no. 3. The number of mosquito bites with the concentration of 50% lemongrass and
50% eucalyptus extract
Respondent Number of mosquito bites

1 3

2 2

3 2

4 1

3+ 2+2+1 = 8 = 2
4 4

As shown in Table No. 3, respondent number 2 and 3 has the same number of mosquito
bites which is 2 while respondent number 1 has 3 bites and respondent 4 has 1 bite. The
computed mean was 2. This means the average number of mosquito bites for set up C is

2. Overall, hypothesis number 1 is rejected.

1) What is the best formulation of the researchers’ product?

- There is no best formulation of the researchers’ product

Table No. 4. The average number of mosquito bites in different set ups
Set up Average number of mosquito bites

Set up Average number of mosquito

bites

A 4

B 3.25

C 2
Based on Table No. 4, set up A has the highest average of mosquito bites. The average number
of mosquito bites is 4 while on set up B the average is 3.25, when estimated, 3 mosquito bites.
On the other hand, set up C has the lowest average of number of mosquito bites. Therefore, set
up C is the most effective formulation for repelling mosquitoes.

3) What are the significant advantages of using organic ingredients as mosquito repellent in
terms of cost and consistency?

-There is no significant advantage of using organic ingredients as mosquito repellent in terms of

consistency and cost.

5- Excellent

4- Good

3- Fair

2- Poor

1- Extremely Poor

Table No. 5. Ratings of the respondents to the consistency of the researchers’ product

Ratings Number of respondents

5 1

4 2

3 1

2 0

1 0
5(1) + 4(2)+ 3(1) + 2(0) + 1(0) = 5+8+3+0+0 = 16 = 4
4 4 4

According to table number 5 the respondents rated 5, 4 and 3 respectively to the consistency of
the researchers’ product. The computed weighted mean is 4 which is good. This means that the
average rating of the respondents on the consistency of the researchers’ product was good.

Table No. 6. Ratings of the respondents to the cost of the researchers’ product

Ratings No. Of respondents

5 2

4 2

3 0

2 0

1 0

5(2) + 4(2)+ 3(0) + 2(0) + 1(0) = 10+8+0+0+0 = 18 = 4.5

4 4 4

According to table number 6 the respondents rated 5 and 4 respectively to the cost of the
researchers’ product. The computed weighted mean is 4.5 which is good. This means that the
average rating of the respondents on the cost of the researchers’ product was good.
Summary of findings

To answer the first problem the researchers made set ups for different formulations. There were 3
formulations where the first set up has 75% of lemongrass and 25% of eucalyptus. On the second
set up it contains 60% of lemongrass and 40% of eucalyptus. While in the last set up there are
equal parts of lemongrass and eucalyptus. After gathering the data, they computed them
statistically using the arithmetic mean. On the second experiment, the researchers used the
average of the number of mosquito bites to determine whether which formulation is the best as
mosquito repellent. Lastly, the researchers asked ratings from the respondents on the consistency
and cost of the product. After gathering the data, they computed them statistically using the
weighted mean and they came up with the rating of “good” in both categories.

Conclusions

The researchers concluded several things after the experiments. First the researchers concluded
that there was a relationship to the concentration and the number of mosquito bites. Since the
most effective, set up is set up C which has the same amount of lemongrass and eucalyptus. They
also concluded that there was a best formulation for the product. According to the table on the
previous chapter, set up C was the best formulation since the respondents had an average of 2
mosquito bites. Lastly, the researchers concluded that there significant advantages on the
researchers in terms of consistency and cost. The ratings of the respondents had an average of
“good” whether it is consistency or cost.

Recommendation

The researchers recommended different ideas on how to improve the study or maintain the
effectiveness of their product. Regarding the improvement of the study, the researchers suggest
using eucalyptus oil as an alternative for eucalyptus extract. They also suggest conducting more
improved experiments related to gathering data for the experiments.