Fumigant toxicity and repellency of citronella grass essential oil (Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle) to German cockroaches (Blattella germanica L.)

Abstract

Citronella grass (Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle) is a tropical plant that can develop as an insect pest fumigant and repellent, especially for the control of the populations of German cockroaches (Blattella germanica L.). The research aims to investigate the fumigation toxicity and repellency of citronella grass essential oil against German cockroach males and nymphs. Fumigation toxicity and repellency tests are the protocol that uses in the present research. The field populations of cockroaches collected in Indonesia from several locations. The essential oil of citronella grass is not fumigant. In contrast, the citronella grass essential oil effectively repels the cockroach, and the repellency ranges from 65.72–100.00% at 1 hour and still effective after 24 hours. The citronella grass essential oil can develop as a repellent product than as a fumigant to the German cockroach pest. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4670508

Keywords

• Citronella
• German cockroach
• Repellent
• Fumigant
• Indonesia