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Piscicidal plants of Nepal: Toxicity Screening on fish
2nd International Conference and Exhibition on Pharmaceutics and Advanced Drug Delivery Systems
July 05-06, 2019 | Paris, France
Augusthy Kulakkattolickal
City Colleges of Chicago, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts : Asian J Biomed Pharmaceut Sci
Abstract:
A survey of the aboriginal fishermen in Chitwan District
of Nepal identified the native names of 97 species of
plants believed to possess piscicidal properties. Ninety-two
were collected and identified. Eighty-two of these were
tested for toxicity using grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon
idella) fingerlings as test organisms. Thirty-six species that
killed the fingerlings within 2 hours at 1% (w/v) extract
concentration or less were categorized as poisonous.
Extracts of these 36 Nepalese plant species were tested
for toxicity on three species of predatory air-breathing
fish (Ophiocephalus punctatus, Clarias batrachus and
Heteropneustes fossilis) inhabiting the farm ponds.
Out of these 36 plants, the ripe fruit of Catunaregam
spinosa (Thunb.) Tirveng. (syn. Randia dumetorum Poir)
(Rubiaceae) was the most toxic, with an LC50 value
below 0.02–0.04% on the three species of fish; it lost
its toxicity in 204 hours. The second most toxic of these
36 plants was Polygonum hydropiper L. (Polygonaceae)
shoot extract and had LC50 values of 0.02–0.06% for all
the three species of fish and lost its toxicity in 13 hours.
Aqueous extracts of dried, ripe fruit of C. spinosa tested
for toxicity under laboratory conditions had a 5-hour
LC50 of 0.0036% (weight/volume) for Heteropneustes
fossilis. The dried shoot extract of P. hydropiper had a
laboratory LC50 value of 0.096% for Heteropneustes
fossilis. The environmental advantage of using these
plant toxins to eradicate predatory fish before cultivating
the economically viable species of fish is that the
toxic effect disappears within a certain time period.
The active ingredients in any of these plants were not
isolated during this research. This research was funded
by the Canadian International Developmental Research
Centre (IDRC) and had resulted in three publications.
Biography:
Augusthy Kulakkattolickal has three Master's Degrees (Masters in Experimental Biology from McGill University, Canada, Masters in Public Health from the University of Illinois, USA, and Master's in Zoology from the University of Calicut, India. His publications of the piscicidal plants of Nepal has been cited hundreds of times as updated by ResearchGate. Currently he is working as a Professor of Biology (Anatomy & Physiology) at City Colleges of Chicago, USA. Among other things, his expertise involves establishing cadaver theater/lab and planning cadaver prosection to teach Human Anatomy & Physiology for students pursuing medical careers.
E-mail: augkoch@ccc.edu
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