Knowledge and use of repellent plants in rural communities in the state of Piauí, northeast of Brazil

Abstract

The plants have as composition numerous substances with bioactive potential, among which
the ones that have characteristics to repel insects stand out. The objective was to know the
use of repellent plants in two rural communities, Olho dágua da Fazenda and Poço do Jabotá,
municipality of Sigefredo Pacheco, Piauí. Interviews were conducted in all residences (41), with
a guided tour around the communities. It was possible to identify the use of 17 species, distributed
in 14 families, with emphasis on the species Cymbopogon citratus (DC.). Staph. With
higher Value of use (VU = 2.0). The leaf (52.0%) was the most cited and the technique most
used to repel insects was smoking (73.5%), a preference was still found for the use of native
plant species (71%). It is concluded that the studied communities show us a repertoire of plants
that can replace the use of chemicals in the domestic environment of the field, and that this
agroecological knowledge must be rescued and valued.