Abstract:
Plants remain an abundant resource of phytochemicals useful for reserving human health and
improving the environment where he lives. Molluscicides of plant origin are suggested to be a
suitable, cheap, and environmentally friendly alternative for expensive and environmentally
destructive synthetic molluscicides used for control and elimination of harmful snails such as those
work as intermediate host of schistosomiasis disease. This study was carried out to investigate five
Sudanese plants for their molluscicidal activity against the snail Biomphlaria pfeifferi the
intermediate host of the parasite Schistosoma mansoni, the causative agent of intestinal
schistosomiasis disease in Sudan. In an exploratory experiment, snails were exposed to serial
concentrations of 1000, 500, and 250 ppm of 80% ethanolic extracts of the plants for 24 hours.
Accordingly, the plants were further investigated by use of concentrations; 100, 50, and 25 ppm.
Lc50 and Lc90 were calculated. Plants were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening. All
plants showed Lc90 less than 250 ppm. Leaves of Combretum glutinosum Perr. ex DC. showed
activity by Lc50, and Lc90 of 117.57, and 220.84 ppm, respectively, fruits of Solanum dubium L.
of 153.02, and 226.62 ppm, and remaining three plants male inflorescences of Hyphaene thebaica
(L.) Mart., aerial parts of Indigofera oblongifolia Forssk, and aerial parts of Rhynchosia minima
(L.) DC. showed similar potency by Lc50, and Lc90 of 158.11, and 228.11 ppm. The findings of
the study suggest further phytochemical investigation so as to isolate and identify the active
ingredients and also to be investigated for other different bioactivities.
