IPB University Students Create Pesticide from Lerak Fruit and Win 2nd Place in National Competition

Lerak, this name is familiar to people from earlier times. But it might sound foreign to millennials. Lerak is a plant that grows on the island of Java but has not yet cultivated specifically. The potential possessed by Lerak can be used as a natural biopesticide and reduce the use of chemical pesticides.

This drove three students from Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture (Faperta), IPB University to conduct a literature study on the advantages of lerak. They are Novita Niken Putri Ulayyah, Dinar Nabila Rusydah, and Lailatul Qodriyah Agne Verawati.

They found that lerak has a saponin content as a second metabolic that can reduce the population of golden snail which is complained by the rice farmers. This innovation won second place and best paper in the Future Plan Competition, Indonesian Student Summit 2019 held by Brawijaya University, Malang (30/10-3/11).

“We initially did not expect to win the competition, seeing all cool paper titles from other teams. This innovation was inspired by Medical and Aromatic Plants course. During that course, I learned that saponin could become a second metabolite that can be used as a soap. Starting from that, I grew my curiosity to lerak fruit. After doing a literature study, it turned out that saponin has the ability to kill cold-blooded animal, so I directly remembered the golden snail,” said Niken.
In this research, the process of separation between meat and fruit skin is carried out. Then, the meat is blended. “Even if it is made into powder, it can be made like simplicia, but the application must remain in solution,” added Vera.
Meanwhile, Dinar as one of the team members conveyed her hope to get this innovation applied on the field, so there will be data to be published. “We hope that after the millennials are reintroduced to lerak fruit, this will be utilized not only as detergent, but also to diminish the growth of golden snail in a way that is cheap. It allows this to be commercialized,” she concluded.

Keyword: lerak, biopesticide, IPB University Student, achievement