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Plant Essential Oil Eyed As Mosquito, Ant Repellent

Date:
September 21, 2009
Source:
USDA/Agricultural Research Service
Summary:
Scientists are investigating the chemical makeup of a mosquito- and ant-repellent essential oil from a native Samoan plant.
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Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have teamed up with researchers from a company in American Samoa to investigate the chemical makeup of a mosquito- and ant-repellent essential oil from a native Samoan plant.

The ARS scientists and researchers at Agro Research, Inc., in Pago Pago, American Samoa, discovered that the oil from a local plant repelled mosquitoes and pest ants in preliminary studies, which were conducted under a material transfer agreement. The isolation and identification of the active component (or components) will be done as part of a recently established one-year cooperative research and development agreement.

The plant is one of the 540 native species of flowering plants in American Samoa, a U.S. island territory in the South Pacific.

ARS chemists Robert Vander Meer and Ulrich Bernier at the agency’s Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Fla., are working with Agro Research, Inc.’s Pemerika Tauiliili to identify the active ingredients in the plant essential oil.

Two mosquito species—Aedes aegypti and Anopheles albimanus—were used to evaluate the essential oil’s repellency. A. aegypti transmits viruses that cause yellow fever, dengue and chikungunya. A. albimanus transmits malaria parasites and is not as susceptible to repellents as many other mosquito species.

The essential oil was also tested on the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. Significant repellency was observed with concentrations diluted more than 100-fold, and the active components are likely a small fraction of the total oil.

While American Samoa is malaria-free, mosquitoes pose significant problems for the Samoan population due to transmission of dengue virus.

Exploration for new active ingredients among botanical extracts has value because it can lead to the discovery of new synthetic analogs with unique and useful properties.


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Materials provided by USDA/Agricultural Research Service. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

USDA/Agricultural Research Service. "Plant Essential Oil Eyed As Mosquito, Ant Repellent." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 September 2009. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090830100003.htm>.
USDA/Agricultural Research Service. (2009, September 21). Plant Essential Oil Eyed As Mosquito, Ant Repellent. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090830100003.htm
USDA/Agricultural Research Service. "Plant Essential Oil Eyed As Mosquito, Ant Repellent." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090830100003.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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