Laboratory Evaluation of The Efficacy of Insect Repellent Products Extracted from Melaleuca cajuputi Powell Against Mosquito

Abstract

Melaleuca cajuputi Powell or known as cajuput tree is a native tree to Peninsular Malaysia where it easily grows near to the swampy forest. The essential oil extracted
from its leaf have many benefits due to its chemical compound. One of its benefits is to work as an insect repellent. Hence, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the
biological efficacy of the M. cajuputi Powell based product against the mosquito. The essential oil extracted from the fresh leaves through steam distillation was formulated
into two products which are Mosquito repellent roll-on and mosquito repellent diffuser. Mosquito repellent roll on undergo skin repellent analysis using Bioassay Method forMosquito Repellent on Human Skin followed Malaysian Standard Procedure while mosquito repellent diffuser was analyzed for spatial repellent using choice test method
developed by Vector Control Research Unit (VCRU). Both samples with 5% concentration were tested against the dengue vector (Aedes aegypti) in the laboratory. The skin repellent results were compared with Malaysian Standard repellent which is 10% DEET. Mosquito Repellent Roll On has shown complete protection against mosquito landing/biting up to 1 hour and start to decrease from 1’30’’ hours to 4’00’’ until 31.37% which are lower than Malaysia Standard. Besides that, Mosquito Repellent Diffuser
showed an excellent repellency from 30 minutes to 3 hours from 83.33% to 100% of repellency. Thus, the conclusion from this study, cajuput oil could be used as a botanical
insecticide since the plant is widely available in Malaysia especially in Selangor, Terengganu, Pahang, and Kelantan. This study is very crucial to the botanical insecticide development in Malaysia to sustain our environment by reducing harmful residue to nature due to conventional insecticides uses.