CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Healthy living is one of the most important aspects in life and having a proper,
healthy lifestyle is a must for many people. And in the rise of globalization, there are
many factors that affect healthy living. One common factor is the spreading of diseases
which can lead to a person’s death.

Such diseases were caused by some insects just like the mosquito.

Citrus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae.
Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops like oranges, lemons,
grapefruit, pomelo and limes.

Pomelo (Citrus maxima) is a natural citrus fruit, similar in appearance to a large

grapefruit, native to South and Southeast Asia. Pomelo is native to Southeast Asia
where it is known under a wide variety of names. In large parts of South East Asia, it is
a popular dessert, often eaten raw sprinkled with, or dipped in, a salt mixture.

Lemon (Citrus Limon) Osbeck, is a species of small evergreen tree in

the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia. The Lemon the 'Meyer' is a cross
between a lemon and possibly an orange or a mandarin, and was named after Frank N.
Meyer, who first introduced it to the USA in 1908. Thin-skinned and slightly less acidic
than the Lisbon and Eureka lemons, Meyer lemons require more care when shipping
and are not widely grown on a commercial basis. Meyer lemons often mature to a
yellow-orange color. They are slightly more frost-tolerant than other lemons. The orange
is the fruit of the citrus species Citrus sinensis in the family Rutaceae. It is also called
sweet orange, to distinguish it from the related Citrus aurantium, referred to as bitter
orange. The sweet orange reproduces asexually varieties of sweet orange arise through
mutations. The orange is a hybrid between pomelo and mandarin.

Since then, these citrus fruits have been a favorite fruit for Filipino people,
particularly in Mindanao. But mostly didn’t know that these fruits have a citrus flavor and

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aroma of grapefruit which is very similar to pomelo, sweet orange and mandarin orange
— already used in fruit juices, citrus-flavored beverages, and prestige perfumes and
colognes — may be heading for a new use in battling mosquitoes, ticks, head lice,
bedbugs and bacterium such as bacillus and pseudomonas, most found bacterium at
home, to a less expensive way of making large amounts of the once rare and pricey
ingredient.

The substance is called nootkatone. Nootkatone is a natural organic compound

and is the most important and expensive aromatic of grapefruit. It is a sesquiterpene
and a ketone. It is nontoxic to humans, and is an approved food additive, and is
commonly used in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. This also can be an
environmental-friendly insecticide.

DEET is a chemical that is toxic to our brain cells which is used by most
commercialized mosquito insect repellent brand. Scientists suspect that the potential
brain cell damaging effects of DEET could be particularly harmful if used in combination
with other neurotoxic insecticides.

With the use of these citrus fruits extract, an alternative material concern of this
study considering its effectiveness as a mosquito repellent and household freshener by
lessening diseases our world is facing today because of these mosquitoes such as
dengue and to avoid the use of this chemical so called DEET.

Statement of the Problem

The main concern of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Citrus
Fruits Extract as a mosquito repellent. It sought to answer the following sub-problems:

A. Is the Citrus fruits Extract an effective mosquito repellent?

B. Is there a significant difference on the effectiveness of the Citrus fruits as a
mosquito repellent and the commercialized one?

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Objectives

Our objective is to find out if the Pomelo, Lemon and Sweet Orange extract is
effective as a mosquito repellent.

Hypothesis

H1: There is a significant difference on the effectiveness of the Citrus fruits as a

mosquito repellent and the commercialized one.

Significance of the Study

DEET is a chemical that is toxic to our brain cells which is used by most
commercialized mosquito insect repellent brand. Scientists suspect that the potential
brain cell damaging effects of DEET could be particularly harmful if used in combination
with other neurotoxic insecticides. To avoid this kind of chemical, we are using a natural
mosquito repellent which is way lesser than the price of commercialized mosquito
repellents. This study was conducted to produce a cheaper, safer and eco-friendly than
the commercialized one.

Limitation of the Study

This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of Citrus Fruits extract
to mosquitoes only.

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 CHAPTER II

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESEARCH DESIGN

The experiment was established using a complete random design including 3

replication which requires testing of different treatments as follows:

Treatment 0: Treated without Product

Treatment 1: Treated with Commercialized Product

Treatment 2: Treated with of 25g Pomelo Extract, 25g Sweet Orange Extract and 25g
Mandarin Orange Extract

B. MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

In performing the experiment, these materials were used:

 2 Mosquito Cage
 20 Mosquitoes
 1 Pomelo Fruit
 1 Sweet Orange
 1 Lemon
 Blender
 4 Bowl
 Strainer
 Beaker
 Stirrer
 1 Spray Container
 Timer
 Commercialized product

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EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

Gathering of Pomelo Sweet Orange and Fruit Lemon

1 piece each of Pomelo Sweet Orange and Lemon were gathered from the
Supermarket.

Extracting the juice of Pomelo, Sweet Orange and Lemon

Wash 1 piece pomelo fruit with tap water and remove the peel of the fruit.
Blend the pulp of the fruitt.Strain and measure 25mL of juice using the beaker.
Do the same with Sweet Orange and Lemon

Combining the Extract

Put 25mL each of Pomelo, Sweet orange and Lemon on the remaining spray
bottle using a funnel and set it aside

Application of the extract on the Gathered Mosquito

10 mosquitoes were placed in each insect cage. Then apply different treatments
on volunteer’s hand and was observed within the span for 3 minutes

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 CHAPTER III

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Number of mosquitoes that landed on the test subject with different treatments after 3
minutes.

Trials Treatment

T0(Without Product) T1(Commercialized T2

Product) (Citrus Fruit Extracts)
1 4 1 1

2 6 0 2
3 4 0 1

Total number of mosquito that landed on the test subject

Treatments Trials Total

number of
mosquitoes
1 2 3
T0(Without Product) 4 6 4 14
T1(Commercialized Product) 1 0 0 1
T2(Citrus Fruit 1 2 1 4
Extracts)

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 Total number of mosquito that landed on the test subject
7

0
T0(Without Product) T1(Commercialized Product) T2(Citrus Fruit Extracts)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

The Number of mosquitoes that landed on the test subject with different
treatments
7 after 3 minutes.
6

0
T0(Without Product) T1(Commercialized Product) T2(Citrus Fruit Extracts)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

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 The analyses shows that the No. of mosquito that bitten the hands of the
volunteer after 3 minutes Of hand exposure in the insect cage and total number of
mosquito that has been bitten by the mosquito, After all the testing we did the results is
that the Control or T0 is the most attracted to mosquito unlike T1 and T2.T1 or the
commercialized product is the most effective in repelling the mosquito

CHAPTER IV

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION

Summary

The investigation was done to determine the effect of pomelo, sweet orange and
lemon extract to the mosquito. It attempted to know how many mosquitos can it at least
3 minutes of exposure to different treatments. Experimentation method was utilized and
three trials per treatment.

The Results show that the T0 is the most exposed in the insect cage which has a
total number of 14 mosquitos that been attracted and T1 is the most effective treatment
to the study which has a total number of 1 mosquitos that been attracted. T2 or the
Pomelo, sweet orange and lemon extract is in the middle one which has a total number
of 4 mosquitos that been attracted.

Conclusion

This study arrives at a conclusion that the Extract from the Pomelo, sweet orange
and lemon fruits are effective in repelling the mosquito but isn’t the same with the
commercialized product.

Recommendation

The researchers would like to recommend studies about the preservation of the
Extract from the Pomelo, sweet orange and lemon fruits.
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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Elsevier.Bioresource Technology. Volume 71, Issue 3, February 2000, Pages 267-

271

Elsevier.Fitoterapia. Volume 71, Issue 5, September 2000, Pages 553-555

Elsevier.Bioresource Technology. Volume 89, Issue 1, August 2003, Pages 99-102

Reidenbach, K.R (2009). Phylogenetic analysis and temporal diversification of

mosquitoes based on nuclear genes and morphology. BMC Evolutionary Biology.
9 (1). PMC 28805638

https://www.difference.wiki/grapefruit-vs-pomelo/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_ (fruit)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomelo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon

http://www.evolva.com/nootkatone

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit

http://mosquito.ifas.ufl.edu/Mosquito_Repellents.htm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEET

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APPENDICES

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