PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

sThe use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides to control insect and weed pests has posed substantial problems due to their persistence in the environment, insect resistance and high mammalian toxicity. On the other hand, plant-derived insecticides are more readily biodegraded, less likely to contaminate the environment and less toxic to nontarget organisms. Hence, the search for new sources of such compounds from plants has gained popularity amongst researchers. A screening procedure for the presence of bioactive compounds from plant sources by using brine shrimp as the general bioassay has been carried out and a number of plant species has been identified for further detailed were further tested using other more specific bioassay methods.