Efficacy of Eight Essential Oils against Housefly, Musca domestica

Abstract

The housefly, Musca domestica L. is nuisance and can also transmit disease-causing organisms. More than 100 pathogens are associated with the houseflies such as bacteria, protozoa, viruses and parasites. Therefore, the use of housefly repellent products is one of the efficient ways to prevent pathogens transmission. However, there have been few studies on the control of housefly using repellents. At present, the synthetic chemicals are widely used because of its easy application. However, the use of synthetic chemicals have been reported to increase the resistance in housefly. There are also toxic side effects to humans and non-target organisms. The current research trends use herbal essential oil as alternative housefly repellent because they contain various phytochemicals that are specific to repell housefly without harming other organisms and environment. Instead of the use of synthetic chemical, the plant-derived products have been employed to control the housefly with low-toxicity to human and environment-friendly. The aim of this study was to determine the repellent activity of 8 herbal essential oils (Sweet basil, Citronella, Clove, Eucalyptus, Takhrai-Ton, Kiffir lime, Ginger and Lesser galangal) against Musca domestica L. under laboratory conditions. The efficacy of 8 herbal essential oils as repellent against housefly was evaluated by slight modification of the repellent test method of SOP 13-02-312. Differences in significance were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).The repellency rate was calculated for each test using the following formula: % repellency rate = ((C-T)/C)*100. The result showed that at 15% concentration of Sweet basil, Citronella, Clove, Eucalyptus, Takhrai-Ton and Kiffir lime was able to repel over 80% of housefly. Moreover, it suggested that at 15% concentration of Sweet basil oil and Citronella oil showed excellent for housefly repellent. All of essential oils at 5%, 10% and 15% showed significant differences at 95% confidence level. However, Sweet basil and Citronella at 15% concentration showed no significant different. Therefore, the most effective herbal essential oil against housefly after 4 hours of exposure is Sweet basil oil at 15% concentration. It suggested that Sweet basil oil is excellent for housefly repellent, safe to human and environmental friendly.