ANTHELMINTIC ACTIVITY OF CAJANUS SCARABAEOIDES (L).

Summary Whole plant of Cajanus Scarabaeoides (L) were dried, powdered and successively extracted with petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol in Soxhlet extractor. The Phytochemical screening of these extract were performed. The petroleum ether extract shows the presence of alkaloids and glycosides, chloroform extract shows the presence of glycosides and steroids and methanol extract shows the presence of glycosides, flavonoids and steroids.Anthelmintic activity of these extracts was evaluated on Indian adult earthworms, Pherentima posthuma. Results showed that the petroleum ether took less time to cause paralysis and death of the earthworms. It can be concluded that anthelmintic activity of the whole plant Cajanus Scarabaeoidesis due to the alkaloids present mostly in the petroleum ether extract.