[Preliminary trials of Guaiacum officinale L. as a molluscicide]

Aqueous suspensions of fruit's pericarp, leaves, root's bark and seeds of Guaiacum officinale were tested at different concentrations as molluscicide, cercaricide and piscicide. In the laboratory the suspension of fruit's pericarp produced 100% mortality for egg masses of B. glabrata at 100 ppm, for adult snails of Biomphalaria glabrata, B. straminea and B. tenagophila at 20 ppm, for Lebistes reticulatus (fishes) at 5 ppm and Schistosoma mansoni's cercariae at 1 ppm. The ethanolic extract of fruit's pericarp was not active against adult snails of B. glabrata. The lethal dose for adult snails(DL90) of the aqueous suspension of fruit's pericarp after 24 hours exposure, were: 15 ppm for B. glabrata; 14 ppm for B. straminea and 18 ppm for B. tenagophila. The DL90 of aqueous suspensions of root's bark, seeds and leaves were 57 ppm, 33 ppm and 15 ppm, respectively. In the field, B. glabrata adult snail mortality was 68% at 20 ppm and 100% at 40 ppm, when using suspension of fruit's pericarp.