Binary combination of carbohydrates and amino acids as snail attractant in pellets containing molluscicides against the snail Lymnaea acuminata

Snail control is one of the important methods in the campaign to reduce the incidence of fascioliasis and schistosomiasis. In order to achieve this objective, the method of bait formulation containing an attractant and a molluscicide is an appropriate approach to lure the target snail population to the molluscicide. In the present study snail attractant pellets (SAP) were prepared from binary combination of carbohydrates (10 mM) and amino acids (20 mM) in 2% agar solution. These were tested on Lymnaea acuminata, an intermediate host of the digenean trematodes Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. The behavioral responses of snails to these binary combination were examined. The fraction of snails that was in contact with the SAP at different times was used as a measure of attraction. Among all the binary combination of carbohydrates; (sucrose + starch)—72.9%, binary combination of amino acids; (proline + serine)—48.0% and binary combination of carbohydrates and amino acids; (sucrose + serine)—69.5%, emerged as the strongest attractant pellets. Toxicity of these SAP containing different concentrations of molluscicides were used as bait against the snail, L. acuminata. Thymol containing SAP emerged as the strongest bait formulation (96 h LC50 0.540%, 0.318% and 0.305%) against L. acuminata.