Abstract
Pomacea canaliculata snails pose a severe problem to direct seeded rice cultivated in Southern Brazil. Control of this snail is nowadays performed with toxic chemicals such as copper sulfate and fungicides such as fentin. A novel natural molluscicide based on alkali modified quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) saponins was tested under laboratory conditions. Snails were collected in rice fields close to Porto Alegre (State of Rio Grande do Sul) and in Brusque (State of Santa Catarina, 400 km north of Porto Alegre). In Santa Catarina the product was very effective, while in Porto Alegre it had no effect. This unexpected behavior was probably due to the respiratory habits of the snails under different contents of dissolved oxygen in the water. Near Porto Alegre the water used in rice fields is heavily polluted, with dissolved oxygen levels of 1-2 ppm, and the snails rely primarily on their siphon and lungs to breathe. Since saponin control is probably due to an interaction between saponins with the sterols present in the cell walls in the gills, no control was observed. By contrast, in Santa Catarina the dissolved oxygen level of the water is 5-6 ppm, and the snails remain mostly underwater, breathing with their gills. In this case the snails died within 24 h at a dose of 20 and 30 ppm of product. To test this observation, snails grown in polluted waters were forced to remain underwater in saponin solutions and water (control) preventing the use of their siphon to breathe. The snails exposed to saponin solutions died, while the control snails survived, indicating that they were still able to use their gills to breathe. These results indicate that the use of the saponin product is limited to rice fields not irrigated with heavily polluted waters.