Molluscicidal Potential of Column Purified Fractions of Allium cepa against Intermediate Host of Urinary Schistosomiasis (Bulinus globosus) in Sokoto, Nigeria

Potential of column purified fractions of Allium cepa bulb against intermediate hosts of urinary schistosomiasis (Bulinus globosus) was conducted in laboratory condition. The fresh bulbs of A. cepa were purchased from Ramin Kura market of Sokoto, identified and authenticated by a taxonomist. The bulbs were sliced into pieces, air dried and powdered. Extracts were obtained using methanol as polar then purified with silica gel as a stationary phase while N-hexane and ethyl acetate (1:1) as the mobile phase. Thirteen fractions each fraction containing 10 ml of the effluent was collected, the collected extracts were left open for evaporation for 48 hours. Ten adult B. globosus were immersed in 3liters of water containing different concentrations of the fraction and each treatment was replicated three times with control in the same condition without treatment, observations were recorded after 24 hours up to 96 hours. The toxicity experiment showed that fractions (F7, F8, F6 and F9) were most toxic fractions, LC50 after 96 hours was 19.371 mg/l. based on findings from this research it can be concluded that, A. Cepa was very potent and can be used for control of B. globosus in order to prevent urinary schistosomiasis infection in endemic areas and drugs industries may use the extracts of these plants for production of molluscicides.