Development of herbal mosquito repellent pellet with nanoencapsulated citronella oil

Abstract

There are various insects which are harmful for humans such as blackflies, drosophila, mosquitoes, cockroaches, fleas, rodents etc. They are the vector of harmful diseases such as plague, river blindness, dengue, malaria, sleeping sickness etc. among which mosquito is the major issue. In this study, Mosquitoes have been considered as model insect. Mosquito borne diseases are very harmful for both human and animals. It can cause infection like dengue, malaria, chikungunya etc. Thus, mosquito prevention is more important for today’s world because there is no vaccine, or any specific treatment developed for mosquito borne diseases. Several insect repellents are available in market, like spray, gel, lotion etc. but they are based on synthetic repellent like DEET, DEPA, DMP etc. Which are toxic and harmful to both human and environment. To avoid this, herbal materials can be utilized as insect repellent. The essential oils are good choices in this regard. But they have less protection time against insects as compared to synthetic repellent. Using encapsulation technology, the efficiency of essential oil can be enhanced against various insects. Here citronella and eucalyptus oils were taken and encapsulated in solid lipid as well as in natural polymers. Encapsulated essential oils were mixed with marigold floral powders and repellent pellets were formed.  Repellency of the herbal pellets were tested against mosquitoes by Y-tube method in laboratory condition. Results showed promising protection time for the mosquito. These pellets do not require to burn, no electricity is required to get the essential oil vapours. Only keeping a pellet in a room gives good fragrance as well as insect protection by slow-release diffusion method alone.