Incense out of Garlic

and Citronella Oil

as a Mosquito

Repellent

Prepared By:

Ayala, Jan Karen

Hacildo, Millecent

Hedia, Hazel

Hibo, Christian Lloyd

Jalmasco, May

Templado, Eugene
 Chapter I

Introduction

Garlic is a common ingredient used in fine dining and

in our humble homes. It gives food aroma and additional

savory taste, it is an ingredient for any type of food, may

it be fried, savory, saucy, and a soup etc. but little does

everyone know that garlic also have components that serve as

a repellent to insects. On the other hand, citronella oil is

a lemony liquid used as a basic home remedy for muscle

spasms, for increasing appetite and urine production. Its

lingering fragrance helps attract insects that are not toxic

for human and pets. This study is about using garlic and

citronella oil as a key component in making an incense as a

mosquito repellent. The characteristic of the garlic as a

raw material is that when it will be used for the incense,

it will be extracted and will be added to other ingredients

to be molded into incense. This study seeks to find an

alternative and more efficient way to stop the dengue

outbreak that is very common today. This study aims to help

schools, homes, workplaces and different establishments in

order to avoid the risks of having dengue during this

outbreak and for future uses too. This study opened another
avenue for a simple kitchen ingredient to be a key component

in order to reduce the risk of having dengue.

Throughout the world, there are over 3,000 species of

mosquito. The female mosquito feeds on blood from humans and

animals because they need the protein found in the blood to

help develop their eggs. Mosquitos are attracted to people

by skin odors and carbon dioxide from the mouth (Bowen,

1991). The use of repellents makes a person unattractive for

feeding and therefore repels the mosquito (Maibach, 1966).

Various researches are made about citronella oil as a

mosquito repellent. A recent study stated that “citronella

has been found to possess effective repellent activity

against mosquitos, especially the female ones, after 12

hours after the direct application of pure oil on the skin

of human”. Another study about citronella concluded that it

is the most promising for repellency against mosquito

species.

Garlic, with the scientific name Allium sativum has

demonstrated numerous insecticidal activities on a wide

range of mosquito species. For example; its juice has

domesticum (Prowse, 2006). Results from another study showed

the ethanolic extract of garlic bulbs showed significant

insecticidal activity towards the larvae of Aedes

albopictusi exhibiting LC50 value of 4.48 g/L (Tedeschi,

2011). It also showed larvicidal effects against Anopheles

stephensi and Colex quinquefascians and that its extract are

most recommended in effective mosquito control programs at

very low concentrations ( S. Sinha and G. Chandra, 2011).

The disadvantages and losses if the research is not finished

or conducted by the researchers, is that we cannot get new

knowledge about repelling mosquitoes and we will not be able

to validate the use of garlic and citronella oil as mosquito

repellent. The people’s knowledge about repelling mosquitoes

with the use of chemical insecticides may change into using

natural incense which ingredients can be found at home.

The researchers conducted this study to learn and prove that

garlic and citronella oil can be used as a mosquito

repellent. The researchers want to create incense out of

these two components. Using organic materials for this

incense that will not be harmful for human and animal

inhalation and for the environment. The incense will help in

repelling mosquitos thus, lessening mosquito bites to

decrease dengue rates and casualties to rise.

Statement of the Problem

Incense out of Garlic and Citronella Oil as a Mosquito

Repellent
 Primarily, this research is introducing Allium sativum

powdered bulbs and citronella oil as a raw material to

create an incense for mosquitos. Specifically, this

answered the following sub-problems;

Research Questions:

1. How does the Garlic improve the repelling effects of

Citronella Oil?

2. How will the finished product be able to act as a

Mosquito repellent?

3. How long is the duration of a piece of incense?

The researchers hypothesized that garlic extract

The main focus of this research study is to produce an

incense. The incense will be used to smoke a range of area

to repel mosquitos.

The mixture will be composed of garlic, citronella oil,

wax and charcoal that will be molded into an incense. The

products’ recorded effects are limited only to its repelling

effects on mosquitos.
Definition of Terms

Garlic

 Garlic bulbs crushed to gather its juice/extract.

Citronella Oil

 Oil mixed with different other ingredients for more

effective mosquito repelling.

Incense

 A molded mixture of coal, garlic, cornstarch,

citronella oil that will repel mosquitoes when

burned.
 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

Foreign

Plant-based repellents have been used for generations in

traditional practice as a personal protection measures

against host-seeking mosquitoes. Recently, commercial

repellent products consist of plant-based ingredients have

gained popularity from consumers, as they are perceived as

safe compared to synthetic repellents. (Maia, Moore , 2011)

Currently, the use of synthetic chemicals to control insects

and arthropods raises several concerns related to

environment and human health. As an alternative to synthetic

repellents, more researches are being conducted about

repellents that have plants as their main component. A study

of Karunamoorthi, Hailu, (2014), revealed that by crushing

the bulbs of garlic and applying the juice on the skin had

successfully showed repellency on insect, principally,

mosquitoes.

Another alternative is to use natural products that possess

good efficacy and are environmentally friendly. Among those

chemicals, essential oils from plants belonging to several

repellent properties as a valuable natural resource. (Nerio,

Olivero-Verbel, Stheshenko, 2010)

Depending on the mode of application, additives, and the

procedures, the efficacy varies between species. It has been

found that some plant-derived repellents, including

citronella can give up to 9 h protection against mosquitoes

and blackflies. (Tawatsin et al., 2006)

Local

In the Philippines, Citronella is a great plant to have at

home. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, it is also

natural insect repellent. Filipinos planted it in their

kitchen, and areas where there usually are a lot of

mosquitoes. It is surprising that mosquitoes will soon be

minimized. Citronella plant is lemon scented, will thrive in

sunny areas at home.( Afable,et al., 2017)

According to Dumay, Perdizo, Arcilla Jr.(2019), Mosquitoes

are one of the major disease carriers to people and many

the active patterns of mosquitoes as predators were at early

dawn and dusk. It was also revealed that treated shirt

specimen with citronella and garlic extracts repelled

mosquitoes. The solution can be used as a mosquito

repellent.
Gap bridged by the study

Past researchers conducted studies of creating mosquito

repellents that used garlic from citronella oil separately.

Past researchers conducted studies that focused on one

variable only. In the present study, we have combined these

two variables in order to have a greater amount of

possibility to terminate mosquitoes. We have combined these

two variables aiming for a higher possibility of repelling

mosquitoes.
 Chapter III

Methodology

Research Design

This study used experimental research design wherein it

has undergone experimentation in determining the efficacy of

garlic and citronella oil as a mosquito repellent.

This is also a developmental research in which the

researchers developed a mosquito repellent using garlic and

citronella oil as its main component and to introduce the

usefulness of the primary raw material.