RESEARCH PROPOSAL

TITLE: EFFECTS OF ORANGE EXTRACT (CITRUS SINENSIS) TO ADULT

MOSQUITOES AS REPELLENT

I. MAIN ARGUMENT/ RATIONALE

Insects such as mosquitoes have been spreading viruses with their

deadly sting. It has been a dilemma for most of the people living in a tropical

country such as the Philippines. Most commercial insect repellents such as

insecticides and coils have inorganic contents that maybe harmful to our

health.

Recent studies showed that the smoke generated from burning mosquito

coil is of certain health concerns. A person being exposed to the smoke coming

from the coil may suffer severe head ache, nausea and vomiting, the condition

will be severe among asthmatic patients. The emission of formaldehyde from

one burning coil can be as high as that released from 51 burning cigarettes.

This is because of the chemicals found in mosquito coils. Making a mosquito

coil out of natural ingredients may remove these problems.

The researchers would want to have an alternative solution to prevent

diseases that mosquito brings especially dengue fever. They will make use of

natural resources specifically orange extract (citrus sinensis). They will

determine its effect on adult mosquitoes.

 II. THEORIES/CONCEPTS SUPPORTING RATIONALE

According to a recent study, oranges constitute about 60% of the total citrus

production in the world. The main portion of the production is used for the

industrial extraction of citrus juice which leaves large amounts of residues,

including peel and segment membranes. Peels consist of about 50 – 65% of the

total weight of the fruit and remains as the primary by product. Waste from the

production of orange juice results in unpleasant odor, soil pollution, and

harborage for insects.

The waste products obtained from the oranges, especially its peel, can be

used for further processing to obtain useful products. Recently, orange peel

has been used as a raw material in industry. There are many enzymes present

in the orange peel that also have valuable applications in the chemical and

biotechnological industries.

There are numerous studies about enzymes from orange peel. One is about

the esterase. The esterase is an enzyme which hydrolase enzyme that splits

esters into an acid and an alcohol by hydrolysis. Esterases are widely

distributed in plants, animals and fungi. Citrus fruit contains different types of

esterases such as pectin methyl esterase (PME) and acetylesterase (AE) that

hydrolyse simple esters into carboxylic acids. Usually, most parts of esterases

are concentrated on the flavedo and albedo (peel) of the orange. The esterase

in citrus fruit has a lot of commercial interest. Orange fruit PMEs have an

important role in the degradation of pectin during ripening of the fruit. Pectin
methylesterase (pectin esterase) is the most abundant esterase in the orange

peel which hydrolyses the pectin to methanol and polygalacturonic acid. The

enzyme polygalacturonase further hydrolyses the polygalacturonic acid into

monogalacturonic acid by breaking the glycosidic linkage.

The method used for the extraction of orange peel esterase was designed by

Professor Bugg at the University of Southampton. This method explained how

to prepare the orange peel extract, setup and monitor enzymatic hydrolysis and

determine the Thin Layer Chromatography for its separation.

Most plant contains compounds that they use in preventing attack from

phytophagaus (plant-eating) insects. These chemicals fall in to several

categories including repellents, feeding deterrents, toxins and growth

regulators. Repellents of plant origin do not pose hazards of toxicity to human

and domestic animals and are easily biodegradable. Natural products are safe

for human when compared to that of synthetic compounds. Therefore, it is the

hour to launch extensive search to explore eco-friendly biological materials for

control of insect pests. The phytochemials derived from plant resources can act

as larvicidal, insect growth regulators, repellents and ovipositional attractants,

having deterrent activities observed by different researchers. The plant

products have been used traditionally to repel or kill the mosquitoes in many

parts of the world. The urgent need for the investigation of phytochemials as

repellents for mosquito control.

 III. STATEMENT OF THE PURPOSE OR PROBLEM

According to the Department of Health, a total of 271,480 dengue cases

were reported from January to August 31 of this year, prompting the

declaration of a national dengue epidemic. In this view, the researchers would

want to help prevent or lessen the spread of the deadly virus by formulating a

solution through the use of orange extract (citrus sinensis) as mosquito

repellent. Specifically, the researchers would want to answer the following

questions;

1. What is the effect of orange extract (citrus sinensis) to adult

mosquitoes?

2. Does orange extract repel mosquitoes?

IV. METHODS: DESIGN AND SAMPLING

The researchers will use experimentation as the method of research. The

experimental method is a systematic and scientific approach to research in

which the researcher manipulates one or more variables, and controls and

measures any change in other variables. Experimental Research is often used

where there is time priority in a causal relationship (cause precedes effect),

there is consistency in a causal relationship (a cause will always lead to the

same effect) and/or the magnitude of the correlation is great.

 They will utilize the quantitative and qualitative research design to measure

the effects of orange extract to adult mosquitoes. They will use the probability

sampling technique by using the orange extract (citrus sinensis) to repel adult

mosquitoes and study how it affects them.

V. METHODS: INSTRUMENT AND PROCEDURES

In utilizing experimentation for the research the following procedures will be

used by the researchers:

1. Selection of sources

Natural products have many advantages such as non- toxic, biodegradable,

cost effective and availability. Orange peel (Citrus sinensis) was selected as a

mosquito repellent agent.

2. Medium of dye extraction

Orange peel will be extracted in methanol medium and it will be evaluated on

the basis of optical density.

3. Extraction of Orange Peel Extract

The process of extraction will be carefully done by the reesarchers.

4. Preparation of final sample

Final samples will be prepared from the selected mosquito repellent sources

with orange peel mosquito repellent.

5. Gathering of Adult Mosquitoes for experimentation

Adult mosquitoes will be gathered to test the effectiveness of the orange

extract. They will be placed in a concealed environment

6. Experimentation

The orange peel extract will be exposed to the adult mosquitoes for testing.

VI. DATA ANALYSIS AND POTENTIAL ETHICAL ISSUES

The researchers will be analyzing quantitative data. They will prepare the

data for analysis, where the aim is to convert raw data into something

meaningful and readable. It includes data validation. The purpose of data

validation is to find out, as far as possible, whether the data collection was

done as per the pre-set standards and without any bias.

After these steps, the data is ready for analysis. The two most commonly

used quantitative data analysis methods are descriptive statistics and

inferential statistics.Typically descriptive statistics (also known as

descriptive analysis) is the first level of analysis. It helps researchers

summarize the data and find patterns.

Descriptive statistics provide absolute numbers. However, they do not

explain the rationale or reasoning behind those numbers. Before applying

descriptive statistics, it’s important to think about which one is best suited

for research question and what you want to show. Descriptive statistics are
most helpful when the research is limited to the sample and does not need

to be generalized to a larger population.

Since descriptive analysis is mostly used for analyzing single variable, it is

often called univariate analysis. quantitative data analysis methods

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