Abstract:
This study was conducted on urban vegetable farming sites at Mzumbe, Mafisa and
Fungafunga in Morogoro municipality-Tanzania. The objective of this study was to
investigate the effect of Commiphora swynnertonii resin extract against helminths
eggs/larvae isolated from low quality water and vegetables at Mzumbe, Mafisa and
Fungafunga in Morogoro municipality. A total of 90 vegetable samples and 70 water
samples (30 treated, 30 river water and 10 untreated) were collected from the study
areas to assess their contamination level with helminth eggs using Baelinger
techniques. Isolation, identification and quantification of helminths eggs present in
low quality water and irrigated vegetables were carried out and the effect of C.
swynnertonii resin on hatchability of helminth eggs and survival of helminth larvae
was assessed. The study showed that untreated water samples (from anaerobic ponds
of both study sites) were positive of Ascaris and Strongyle eggs. Treated water
samples (effluents), river water and vegetable samples were all negative of helminth
eggs. Results for the in vitro test of C.swynnertonii resin extract against helminths
eggs/larvae indicated that the resin extract was very effective in higher
concentrations (25, 50, 70 and 100 %V/V) in inhibiting the hatching of Strongyle
eggs, Ascaridia galli eggs and caused death of larvae of Haemonchus spp,
Trichostrongylus spp, Oesophagostomum spp and Strongyloides spp. It is
recommended that further studies be done on the effect of resin on other pathogenic
microorganisms such as bacteria and protozoa in effluents used for irrigation in the
study areas. Studies on the possibility of making products from the plant extracts to
be used for controlling wide range of water pathogens are also recommended.
