Comparative Molluscicidal Activities of Fruit Pericarp, Leaves, Seed and Stem Bark of Blighia Unijugata Baker

Abstract:

Introduction: The plant is used in ethno-medicine as a fish poison and belongs to family known to contain saponins which are toxic to cold-blooded animals including snails acting as vectors of organisms responsible for many human diseases including schistosomiasis. Methods: The mollusccidal activities of 50% ethanolic extracts of the seeds, fruit pericarp, leaves and stem bark as well as the fractions of the fruit pericarp of B unijugata Baker were evaluated on Biomphalaria glabrata.snails Results: The crude extract of fruit pericarp was the most active among the morphological parts tested with L_C50 of 15 μg/ml while Ethyl- Acetate fractions showed the highest activity of the 3 fractions with a LC₅₀ of 7.6 μg/ml and satisfied the condition set by World Health Organization for a potential plant molluscicides either as a crude extract or as a fractions Conclusions: the results confirmed the ethno-medicinal uses of the plant and can be so regarded as a potential molluscicides in the snail vector of schistsomiasis

Key words: Blighia unijugata, Bak, Fruit pericarp, Biomphalaria glabrata, fruit pericarp, schistosomiasis.