Biological screening of selected flora of Pakistan

Methanolic extracts of different parts of five medicinal plants, Ferula assafoetidaL. resin, Grewia asiaticaL. leaves, Ipomoea hederaceaJacq. seeds, Lepidium sativumL. seeds and Terminalia chebulaRetz. fruits were tested in vitrofor their cytotoxic, phytotoxic, insecticidal, nematicidal and anthelmintic activities. Ipomoea hederaceashowed very significant phytotoxic and cytotoxic activity, with 100% inhibition of Lemna minorgrowth and 100% death of Artemia salinaat concentrations of 1000 and 100 µg mL-1. Grewia asiaticaexhibited very weak activities while Lepidium sativumand Ferula assafoetidashowed moderate to good potential in all three bioassays. The results suggest screening of Ipomoea hederaceaseeds further for isolation of bioactive compounds that may be responsible for its toxic potential.

Larvicidal activity of plant extracts used alone and in combination with known synthetic larvicidal agents against Aedes aegypti.

Larvicidal activity of acetone and petroleum ether extracts of four plants Murraya koenigii, Coriandrum sativum, Ferula asafoetida, Trigonella foenum graceum and synthetic larvicides Fenthion and Temephos used alone and in combination was carried out against A. aegypti larvae under laboratory conditions. Optimum values were found out by using different concentrations of each plant (ranged 25 ppm-900 ppm) and both synthetic larvicides (ranged 0.01-7.5 ppm). The synergistic study was carried out by using 0.05 ppm of Temephos and Fenthion with 25ppm of M. koenigii, F. asafetida, T. foenum graceum and 100 ppm of C. sativum. All the plants showed potential synergistic activity although showed comparatively poor larvicidal activity when tested individually.