Anthelmintic Potential of Crude Ethanolic Extracts of Selected Plant Species

The present article illustrates the Anthelmintic activity of crude ethanolic extracts of Azadirachta indica, Phyllanthus emblica, Carica papaya and Citrus limetta leaves. The anthelmintic assay was carried out on Indian adult earthworms (Pheretima Posthuma), as per the method of Ajaiyeoba et al., (2001) with slight modifications. The minimum time for paralysis/death of the worms, was recorded in the ethanolic extract of Citrus limetta leaves, followed by ethanolic extracts of Azadirachta indica + Carica papaya leaves (2:3 dose proportion), at 50 ppm concentration. The experimental evidences have demonstrated significant anthelmintic activity of ethanolic extracts of Azadirachta indica, Phyllanthus emblica, Carica papaya and Citrus limetta leaves, at selected optimized concentration and dose proportion combinations. Thus, selected plant species could be explored further, in terms of biochemical characterization of active molecules, coupled with dose proportion studies, that can contribute to anthelmintics with enhanced efficacy