Semi-field Tests Research Articles

The South American ampul/ariid snail Marİsa cornuarietis (L.) has shown delinite possibilities in the biological control of same sc/ıistosome-transmitting snails. In the preseııt study, a semi-field test was made on the ability of this snail to feed on riee planr, Oryza sativa, as one of the most economically important crop plant needs to be submerged iıı Fesh water for many days duriııg its growth. The present semi-ji"eld observations indicated that the :mail M. cornuarietis did not a!taek rice grains, ııew germinations and the mature plant cultivated by transplaııting. The observations confirm that the terrestrial moııoeot plant Oryza sativa is ııoıı-edible to the .mail M. cornuarietis. The !mail even find the submerged parts of this planı safe enough to lay its egg-l1Iasses upon. The observations presellted here may suggest that this .mail 1I0t constitute a seriozıs threat to the rice crop in Egypt. The results provide encouraging iııdicatiOlIS of the possible Ufility of M. cornuarietis as a biological control ageııt against the snail lıosts of schistosomiasis in Egypt withoııt serious threat to rice crop plant as oııe of the most common local terrestrial plant ;n U.A .R.