Abstract
Termites cause structural damage to residential and commercial buildings. Chemical repellents are commonly used to address this issue, but concerns have been raised regarding their long-term effects on health and the environment. Customers have complained with the repellents' odor and the discoloration on wood surfaces. Alternative solutions may have been explored in previous studies, limited research has been done on a combination of garlic, lemon, and cucumber extracts (GaLeCumb). To address this, the study explored the effectiveness and acceptability of GaLeCumb as an alternative organic repellent in terms of repelling termites, duration, odor, and discoloration, compared to the commercial product. The gathering of numerical data through a quantitative method began after steam distillation and formulation of three repellents were done. Following this was a 14-day observation where 4 single-choice tests were performed to evaluate termite repellency. It was revealed that Formulation 2 had the best formulation. Fifteen woodworking experts were purposely sampled as respondents of the study. In the analysis of results, it was revealed that the developed repellent was effective in repelling a high percentage of termites all throughout 24 hours. In addition, data showed that there is a significant difference between the commercially done product (SD = 3.28) and the GaLeCumb Termite Repellent (SD = 1.22). Mean scores showed that GaLeCumb Termite Repellent was “very much acceptable” in terms of both odor (M = 3.98) and discoloration (M = 3.7). These findings contribute valuable insights for future researchers, addressing gaps and limitations in the field of termite repellent.
