Brine Shrimp Cytotoxic and Lemna minor Phytotoxic Evaluations of the Methanol Extracts of the Leaves, Stem and Root Barks of Sacrocephalus latifolius

Abstract:This work was aimed at evaluating the probable toxicity of the methanol extract of the leaf, stem root bark of Sacrocephalus latifolius on Artemia nauplii and fronds of Lemna minor. The powder samples of the three morphological parts were independently extracted with Soxhlet extractor apparatus using 95 % methanol and were rotary dried at 400C. The extracts were subjected to biological activities involving brine shrimp cytotoxicity and Lemna minor test for phytotoxicity at 10-100 µg /mL respectively. The experiment was done in replicates of three (3). A concentration-dependent cytotoxic and phytotoxic activities were recorded for the extracts. The results revealed that extract of the leaves demonstrated a significant cytotoxic and phytotoxic activities over the other parts of the plant. At 10 mg/mL, the three extracts recorded little or no cytotoxic activity. However, at the maximum concentration of 1000 µg /mL, cytotoxicities of 66.67 and 3.33 % were recorded for extracts of the leaf and root bark respectively while the extract of the stem bark showed no activity. The results for phytotoxicity followed a similar trend with the extract of the leaf and root bark extracts recording 52.96 and 23.33 % phytotoxicities respectively at 1000 µg /mL. Having shown a higher activity over the other extracts, the leaf extract of S. latifolius could serves as a natural alternative pesticide and weedicide.