A Study on Natural Plants Having Insect Repellent Activity

Soyeb Khan, Mukesh Sharma*, Ajazuddin, Amit Alexander, Junaid Khan, Khushboo Dubey, Shruti Mohanty, D.K. Tripathi

Rungta College of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, Kohka-Kurud Road, Bhilai Chhattisgarh, India.

ABSTRACT:

Plant-based repellents have been used for generations in traditional practice as a personal protection measure against host-seeking insect. Recently, commercial repellent products containing plant-based ingredients have gained increasing popularity among consumers, as these are commonly perceived as “safe” in comparison to long-established synthetic repellents. There is a need for further standardized studies in order to better evaluate repellent compounds and develop new products that offer high repellency as well as good consumer safety. How often have we tried to enjoy the great outdoors or a restful night sleep only to be bothered by what seems like an army of insects attacking us? What is it that attracts insects to humans? Are some individuals more attractive to insects than other individuals? Since insects are vectors for many debilitating human diseases, understanding insect attraction to humans is very important. Study has shown that insects associate with humans at multiple stages in their life cycle. The mechanism of this attraction, i.e. CO2, sweat, ABO blood type, chemicals, body temperature, body humidity. For example, scabies mite, Sarcoptes scabies, which can cause intense skin irritation, has been found to be attracted by host odor, body temperature. CO2 plays a significant role in attraction for numerous insects especially mosquitoes. Other examples of insect attraction to humans include: kissing bugs and sandflies.Study has also shown that the common natural plant like Fennel,Neem,Basil,Coriander are having excellent insect repellent activity with medicinal significance .

KEY WORDS: Insect repellent Plant, mosquitoes, kissing bugs, sand flies

INTRODUCTION:

Insects occur in different ecological niches of mangrove forest. They may be permanent residents or only transient visitors. They are either harmful or beneficial and plays on important role in ecology of mangrove systems. Insects like honeybees are beneficial to man. But several other types of insects occur as pests causing damage to the vegetation. A few others are biting types causing irritation and pain to the human beings.Herbivorous insects can cause considerable damage to the mangrove vegetations Multiple species of flying and crawling insects, including mosquitoes, ticks, flies, midges, chiggers, and fleas, bite people. Although these insects are mostly a nuisance in North America, worldwide they transmit more than 100 bacterial, protozoan, parasitic, and rickettsial diseases to humans. A single bite from an infectious vector is sufficient to transmit disease.Mosquitoes transmit more diseases to humans than any other biting insect. Mosquitoes are the vectors responsible for transmitting several forms of viral encephalitis, yellow fever, dengue fever, bancroftian filariasis, and epidemic polyarthritis to humans; more than 700,000,000 people are infected yearly^[1]The damages occur visibly as holes, galls, leaf miner attack, necrotic spots and incursions along the leaf margin^[2].

Veenakumari et al. (1997) reported that 276 species of insects occurred in the mangals of Andaman and Nicobar islands of India. They found that 197 insect species were herbivores while 43 and 36 insect species were respectively parasites and predators.^[^3]

Table:1 Insects and their orders

S. no	Insects	Order’s
1	Alderflies, Dobsonflies, and Fishflies	Megaloptera
2	Bugs	Hemiptera
3	Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies	Hymenoptera
4	Beetles	Coleoptera
5	Butterflies and Moths	Lepidoptera
6	Cockroaches	Blattodea
7	Dragonflies and Damselflies	Odonata
8	Flies	Diptera
9	Grasshoppers, Katydids and Crickets	Orthoptera
10	Mantids	Mantodea
11	Snakeflies	Raphidioptera
12	Walkingsticks	Phasmida
13	Earwigs	Dermaptera
14	Lacewings, antlions, owflies	Neuroptera
15	scorpion flies	Mecoptera

How to attract insect on human, animal and plants:

Insects have been intimately associated with man for hundreds of years through agriculture, disease, religion, food, and entertainment (i.e. cockroach races, insect collecting). By understanding the mechanisms of attraction of insects, which are vectors of disease and/or nuisance pests to humans, one can better attempt to prevent and control insect-human contact. Known mechanisms of attraction include: Odor, CO2, chemicals, body temperature, humidity, and ABO blood type. The following is a brief review of attraction of insects to humans including some to the insects (and other arthropods) that are medically important to man. The mite is attracted to host odor and body temperature.^[^4]Recent studies implicate the "physical, chemical, and nutritional properties of the skin" as a far greater attractor.^[5]Arlian et. al. (1995) tested the attraction of S. scabiei to lipid components found in human and mammalian skin. Two types of bioassays were performed, first to determine the type of lipid preferred and second, the lipid concentration preferred. To determine lipid preference a mite was placed in the center of a dish and allowed to crawl to the preferred lipid. Lipid concentration preference was determined in the same manner. He found that adults and immature S. scabiei were attracted to 17 lipid compounds in the skin. Surprisingly, one of the most common saturated fatty acids, myristic acid, was not attractive. Attraction due to concentration of lipids was not significant.^[5] Bedbugs (Cimex lectularius L.), are blood sucking ectoparasites on humans, birds, and bats.[8] Until the early 1900's they were often used in folklore medicine to help cure malaria.^[6][7] Bedbugs are characterized by a reddish color, pad-like forewings, and dorsal-ventrally flattened unless feeding.[10].Bedbugs are of medical importance because of their irritating bite and subsequent secondary infections that may occur due to irritation of the skin. Experimentally, bedbugs have been infected with many human pathogens such as hepatitis-B, HIV, and Trypanosoma cruzi which causes Chagas' disease. However their role in the transmission of these diseases is not clearly understood.^[^8]Various host cues include CO2, body temperature, humidity, and human breath. Nunez, (1982) through a series of experiments, using t-olfactometers and actographs, suggested that Reduviid's are attracted to temperatures approximating that of the human body.Similar to bedbugs,CO2 and humidity act as alerting stimuli directing the pest to its host. Possible reasons for attraction by humidity are first, it satisfies part of the kissing bugs hunger and second, an increase in air moisture increases the heat capacity of the air. This temperature increase is picked up by the bugs heat receptors, located on the antennae, and orientates the bug to the host.^[9] ^[10] The female sandflies are blood feeders and thus capable of transmitting disease. Studies to determine the attraction cues of sandflies to humans have not produced definite results.^[11] ^[12]

History of Insect Repellent

The use of insect repellent compounds dates back to antiquity, when various plant oils, smokes, tars, were used to displace or kill insects. Before the Second World War, there were only four principal repellents: oil of citronella, sometimes used as a hair dressing for head lice, dimethyl phthalate, discovered in 1929, Indalone®, which was patented in 1937 and Rutgers 612, which became available in 1939. At the outbreak of World War II, the latter three components were combined into a formulation for use by the military known as 6-2-2; six parts dimethyl phthalate, two parts Indalone and two parts Rutgers 612. Other military repellent formulae for use on clothing were developed during the war, but they all failed to provide desired protection of military personnel deployed around the world. As a result, by 1956 the United States government had screened over 20,000 potential mosquito repellent compounds. In 1953, the insect repellent properties of N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide were discovered and the first DEET product was introduced in 1956. DEET is still the most widely used mosquito repellent. It has generally been regarded as safe, but toxic effects have been recorded, including encephalopathy in children, urticaria syndrome, anaphylaxis, hypotension and decreased heart rate.^[13]

Insect Repellent

Insect repellents play an important role in reducing man-vector contact^[14] Repellents of plant origin have been used for medicinal purposes for a long time because they do not pose hazards of toxicity to human or domestic animals and are easily biodegradable^[14]Compared to other synthetic compounds, natural products are presumed to be safer for human use^[6] The chemical contents extracted from plant materials can be useful as repellents, larvicides, oviposition attractants, insect growth hormone regulators and deterrent agents.^[15][16] Insect repellents are an alternative to the use of insecticides.

Table:2 List of different plant’s have insect repellent uses:

S.no	Name of plant	Comman name	Scietific name	Family	Uses	Other uses
1	Achlys	Vanilla leaf, deer's foot	Achlys triphylla	Berberidaceae	Insect repellent	Emetic, Ophthalmic
2	Beautyberry	Beautyberry	Callicarpadichotoma	Lamiaceae	Mosquitoes repellent	Diuretic
3	Tansy	Garden tansy	Tanacetum vulgare	Asteraceae	Insect repellent	Carminative, stimulant
4	Basil	Holy basil, tulsi	Ocimum tenuiflorum	Lamiaceae	Insect repellent	Common cold, headaches,
5	Calendula	Marygol pot marigold	Calendula officinalis	Asteraceae	Insect repellent	Astringent, Stimulant.
6	Fennel	Wild fennel	Foeniculum vulgare	Umbelliferae	Insect repellent	Carminative, Expectorant.
7	Hyssop	Hyssop	Hyssopus officinalis	Laminaceae.	Insect repellent	Expectorant.
8	Palmarosa	Rosha oil, Geranium oil	Cymbopogon martini	Graminae	Insect repellent	Perfumery, cosmetics.
9	Citronella	Ceylon citronella	Cymbopogon nardus	Graminae	Mosquitoes repellent	Flavoring agent .
10	Neem	Margosa	Azadirachta indica	Meliaceae	Insect repellent	Antiviral, Antimicrobial.
11	Oregano	Mountain mint	Origanum vulgare	Lamiaceae	Ant repellent	Carminative, diaphoretic.
12	Rosemary	Rosemary , old man	Rosmarinus officinalis	Lamiaceae	Insect repellent	anticancer properties
13	Chrysanthemum	mums, chrysanths	Chrysanthemum indicum	Asteraceae	Insect repellent	Antibacterial and antimycotic .
14	Rue	Herb-of-Grace, Rue	Ruta graveolens	Rutaceae	Moth repellent	gout, arthritis .
15	Pennyroyal	spearmiint, pulegium	Mentha pulegium	Lamiaceae	Fleas,ants,moth repellent	It is helped in treatment of headaches and giddiness.
16	Ashwagandha	Ashwagandha	Withania somnifera	Solanaceae	Insect repellent	Adaptogen; Antibiotic
17	Anise	Aniseed	Pimpinella anisum	Umbelliferae	Insect repellent	Antiseptic; Antispasmodic.
18	Parsley	Parsley	Petroselinum crispum	Umbelliferae	Mosquitoes repellent	Expectorant, Diuretic.
19	Spearmint	Spearmint	Mentha spicata	Lamiaceae or Labiatae	Insect repellent	Antiemetic; Antiseptic .
20	Lavender	Lavende	Lavandula angustifolia	Lamiaceae or Labiatae	Insect repellent	Antispasmodic, Diuretic
21	Artemisia	Mugwort	Artemisia vulgaris	Asteraceae	Insect repellent	Antiseptic, Stimulant .
22	Coriander	Coriander fruit’s	Coriandrum sativum	Umbelliferae	Aphids repellent	Stomachic; Stimulant
23	Comman thyme	Thyme	Thymus vulgaris	Lamiaceae	Moth repellent	Disinfectant, Expectorant .
24	Sage	Sage	Salvia officinalis	Lamiaceae	Insect repellent	Astringent, carminative.
25	Borage	Borage	Borago officinalis	Boraginaceae	Insect repellent	Astringent, carminative.

They may be applied to the skin to protect an individual from the bites of mosquitoes, mites, ticks and lice or, less commonly, may be used to exclude insects from an area, such as in packaging to prevent infestation of stored products. In our opinion, these latter uses are under exploited at the current time. With increasing problems of insecticide resistance and increasing public concerns regarding pesticide safety, new, safer active ingredients are becoming necessary to replace existing compounds on the market. Furthermore, the use of repellents in an integrated pest management program has been ignored to a large extent. This article comprises a review of insect repellents, followed by some new research conducted in our laboratory on plant-derived insect repellents.^[16] The plant like Fennel, Neem, Basil, Coriander are having excellent insect repellent activity with medicinal significance.^{[17]
[18] [19]}

CONCLUSION:-

Study has also shown that the common natural plant like Fennel, Neem, Basil, Coriander are having excellent insect repellent activity with medicinal significance .Insect repellent are beneficial to human being as they can made by natural plant which are easily available in our Indian forest. It can be cheaper in cost as compare to other chemical repellent available in market. Natural insect repellents not produce harmful smokes or byproducts as compare to synthetic or chemical repellent. Synthetic or chemical repellent may cause some adverse effect like breathing problem, eye burning. but natural insect repellents are free from this effect.

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18. Botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Fennel

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Received on 18.01.2012

Modified on 04.02.2012

Accepted on 12.02.2012

Research Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 4(2): March-April 2012, 130-133