Effectiveness of Lemon Grass as a Natural Mosquito Repellent

The Objective : The purpose of this experiment is to determine if Lemon Grass is an effective mosquito repellent compared to a Deet based bug spray. The hypothesis states: Lemon Grass is an effective alternative mosquito repellent for people sensitive to the Deet compound (Diethylmetatoluamide).

Methods/Materials

Mosquitoes were harvested and placed in a bug chamber for a series of three sets of experiments:

1) Control: no repellents were used.Mosquitos were then exposed to human contact.

2) 15% Off brand, commercial Deet based spray was applied to the arm and then exposed to the mosquitoes in a bug chamber.

3) 25% Lemon Grass solution was applied to the arm and then exposed to the mosquitoes in a bug chamber.

Results

The tests scores illustrate that Deet repellent has an 81% repellent efficiency versus a 51% repellent efficiency for the Lemon Grass.

Repellent efficiency was determined by taking the percentage of bites and subtracting it from 100% of the bited recorded in the control. The Deet compound was more than twice as effective as the Lemon Grass solution.

Conclusions/Discussion

The results of the experiment show that Lemon Grass may be used as a partial replacement for Deet based repellents. Lemon Grass was found not to be as effective an alternative compared to the 15% Deet compound, however, many people are too sensitive to the Deet chemical to use it as a repellent.

This project tested the effectiveness of Lemon Grass as a natural mosquito repellent compared to the chemical Diethylmetatoluamide.

Science Fair Project done By Jared R. Eifert

 

 

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