Research

As the national university, we champion and support innovative research that addresses the country’s most pressing challenges.

02 Jan 2024

UP Diliman

Researchers develop first marine plastics pollution database in Southeast Asia

The Southeast Asian region has been consistently tagged as among the top polluters of plastic in the oceans, with the...

Read More

02 Jan 2024

UP Los Baños

Despite having positive views about queering English language teaching, teachers report limited knowledge of queer concepts

In the last two decades, there has been an increasing acknowledgement of and interest in the role of education in...

Read More

29 Nov 2023

UP Manila

“No home birthing” policy affected the social and economic status of hilots and the well-being of mothers in a community

The paper aims to document the ways people understand, practice and experience pregnancy and childbirth in a community in Batangas,...

Read More

24 Nov 2023

UP Diliman

Filipino women exposed to violence between their parents are likely to be both a perpetrator and a victim of intimate partner violence

Violence can be transferred from one generation to another through social learning. Social learning theory posits that behaviors and values...

Read More

22 Nov 2023

UP Diliman

Children’s writers can present issues to young readers through words, linguistic structures and literary devices

This research focuses on the analysis of five stories for children written by Filipino authors and published in the Philippines...

Read More

17 Nov 2023

UP Los Baños

Study looks at how Filipino researchers write articles in Philippine English and its implications for academic writing

For over half a century, Philippine English has existed as a linguistic issue in the Philippines. Despite the numerous studies...

Read More

10 Nov 2023

UP Los Baños

The local Chinese population helped make Iloilo the textile capital of the Philippines in the 19th century

Textiles played a significant role in Philippine economic history. In this study, archival materials and records have shown that the...

Read More

07 Nov 2023

UP Cebu

Knowing whether initiatives are employee-led, leader-led, organization-led or HR-led can increase organization citizenship behavior in the service industry

Most studies about organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) focus on actions that employees, supervisors, or owners of organizations should exhibit. OCB...

Read More

03 Nov 2023

UP Cebu

Public lecture to tackle challenges to democracy and politics in a post-truth era

The University of the Philippines Cebu Central Visayas Studies and College of Social Sciences in cooperation with the Critical Policy...

Read More

27 Oct 2023

UP Diliman

First and most extensive study in the Philippines shows diagnostic accuracy of a multivariate index assay alone and in combination with ovarian imaging for ovarian cancer prediction

This study determined the utility of ovarian imaging and a second-generation multivariate index assay in predicting  the risk of ovarian...

Read More

Research

This article focuses on investigating the molluscicidal properties of an invasive weed, Tithonia diversifolia (wild sunflower) against Pomacea canaliculata (golden kuhol) which has been considered a pest in many parts of the country. The secondary metabolites were extracted from the leaves of robustly growing wild sunflower using standard methods. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, phenolics and tannins, and flavonoids. However, only alkaloid and saponin were successfully fractionated. The tannins and polyphenols were not successfully separated hence were treated as a single fraction. The median lethal concentration (LC 50 ) or the concentration of the leaf extract that was capable of killing half of the population of the snails subjected to test was first determined prior to the actual experiment. The distilled water and Niclosamide (Sure KillTM) were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. The molluscicidal assay showed that alkaloids and saponins from the leaf extracts were able to disrupt the cells in the foot, the ctenidium or gills (a respiratory organ), the osphradium (a chemosensory organ), and the digestive gland that functions for enzymatic secretion and absorption of digested materials of the snail. The study proved that the metabolites present in the leaves of wild sunflower can be used as a potential source of natural molluscicide to control the population of golden kuhol.

Pomacea canaliculata (commonly known in the Philippines as golden kuhol) has been a persistent invasive pest in the Philippines for several decades now since its introduction in 1980s. Other than the damage it has caused to the rice production, it has also displaced our native kuhol, the Pila conica. The use of commercial molluscicides to control the golden kuhol not only poses health hazards to the farmers who are directly exposed to the agrichemical, but can also pollute the environment. Using plant-derived, naturally occurring compounds with molluscicidal activities is therefore a better alternative. Tithonia diversifolia, commonly known as wild sunflower is an invasive weed that is widely distributed in the tropics, particularly in Cordillera Region. Therefore, using this invasive plant material in controlling the population of another invasive golden apple snails is doubly advantageous for the local community.

Authors: Karen A. Ballada and Zenaida G. Baoanan (Department of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Baguio)

Read the full article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-023-03969-5