Quality Evaluation and Effectiveness of Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii var. motia) Essential oils as repellents against Aedes aegypti

Abstract

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever is one of the health problems caused by the dengue virus. Activities that may break the chain of transmission by killing mosquitoes directly or avoiding their bites by using repellents. Natural repellents are harmless to the environment and humans, one of which is the essential oil of palmarosa. This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of palmarosa essential oil (PEO) and determine its repulsion of PEO against the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Testing the repulsion of PEO with concentrations of 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 12.5% against the Aedes aegypti This research was conducted experimentally; the arm was exposed for 6 hours and observed every hour for 5 minutes. The results showed PEO that from water vapor distillation was clear, slightly yellowish, smelled rose-like with grassy, refractive index 1.471, the sample was soluble in 70% ethanol with a ratio of 1:1 by volume, relative density 0.893±0.034, ester value 23.48±0.97, acid value 1.352±0.048, optical rotation 0.037±0.018, Iron Fe 5.966±0.070mg/kg. PEO contains geraniol, geranyl acetate, and linalool which have potential as repellents. The results of the repellent activity showed that the greater the concentration of essential oil in the repellent, the greater the protection against Aedes aegypti. The concentration of PEO (12.5%) had greater protection than 12.5% DEET against bites of Aedes aegypti within one hour to six hours.