THE EFFICACY OF BANGBANGSIT (LANTANA CAMARA LINN) AS ORGANIC KATOL

Abstract

This study explores the efficacy of the developed Bangbangsit katol (Lantana camara Linn.) using dried young and matured leaves, and flowers of the plants in treating mosquitoes. L. camara is known to contain repellent properties to insect pests. Philippines, particularly in its countryside like Quirino province, hosts L. camara pandemically in its topographies. On the other hand, mosquitoes had been one of the vectors of the world’s pandemic health problem of serious human diseases that threaten human existence, i.e. zika virus, malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, among others. Young and matured leaves and flowers of L. camara were freshly picked, air dried, and pulverized. The bangbangsit katol was developed by mixing the pulverized L. camara and corn starch. Corn starch was used as binder in forming the katol. Mosquitoes were cultured and subjected to the fume of the burnt L. camara katol: T1 - young leaves, T2 - matured leaves, and T3 – flowers. Time of death and the number of dead mosquitoes were determined and compared. Findings revealed that there is no significant difference on the number of killed mosquitoes across treatments in the study; however, mortalities in T2 and T3 were found significantly higher when compared to T1. Therefore, Bangbangsit katol (L. camara) is potential in treating deleterious mosquitoes.