.4 Pesticidal Role of Vetiver Oil
Vetiver oil is known to repel insects; people in India and elsewhere have placaed vetiver troot
among their clothes to keep ins ects aw ay (http://tntn.es sortment.com/w hatis vetiver_rtco.htm). I t als o
r epels f lies and cockroaches and may make a us ef ul ingr edient in ins ect r epellents (N ational Res earch
Council 1993) . I t has been used to r epel moths ( S ealy 1998) . The two tricyclic s es quiterpenoids –
zizanal and epizizanal – is olated f rom vetiver oil s how ins ect r epelling activity ( J ain et al. 1982) .
M aistr ello and H ender son ( 2001) w er e of opinion that some of the components of vetiver oil, such as
nootkatone – a s es quiterpene, w hich has been f ound to r epel and even kill termites, may have
impor tant indus trial applications , as ins ecticide or ins ect r epellent, or eventually, other products may
be developed.
It also has some anti-fungal properties (Dikshit and Hussain 1984).