The potential of ginger essential oils as a natural cockroach repellent

A study published in the Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences took a look at the potential of ginger as a cockroach repellent, as well as evaluate the chemical composition of ginger essential oil.

• Ginger essential oil was extracted from white ginger using two different methods: supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and Soxhlet extraction (SE). This was done to compare the quality and quantity of the two methods’ yield.
• Between the two, SFE produced extracted oil with less undesirable components and required no filtration. However, SE generated more ginger essential oil.
• The chemical composition of the extracted oils was analyzed via gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Of the two oils, the oil obtained through SFE contained more citral and geraniol, two substances known to be toxic to cockroaches. Furthermore, the researchers identified 66 compounds in the SFE oil, but only 35 in the SE oil. Thus, the SFE oil was used in the experiment with the cockroaches.
• Approximately 150 adult male and female German cockroaches were purchased from a pet shop. The researchers bred the cockroaches for up to two generations and used only the healthy cockroaches in the repellent test.
• The repellent test made use of four concentrations of ginger oil (10, 30, 50, and 100 percent ginger essential oil in 100 ml of water). Treated and untreated choice boxes were utilized, and the cockroaches were continuously observed over a period of two days.
• All concentrations of ginger essential oil displayed varying degrees of effectiveness against the cockroaches. The pure ginger essential oil was deemed the most effective and comparable to naphthalene, the main ingredient of mothballs.

The researchers concluded that ginger essential oil is a promising cockroach repellent because of its efficacy and its low toxicity levels for humans and other animals. Furthermore, SFE is the superior method for obtaining ginger essential oil.

Click this link to read the complete text of the study.

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Journal Reference:

Nour AH, Nour AH, Yap SS. EXTRACTION AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS OF GINGER (ZINGIBER OFFICINALE ROSCOE) ESSENTIAL OILS AS COCKROACHES REPELLENT. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences. 2017; 11(3), 1-8. [PDF]