BIOLOGIA (PAKISTAN) PKISSN 0006 – 3096 (Print) April, 2017, 63 (1), 5-12 ISSN 2313 – 206X (On-Line) Author’s Contribution: U.B., Experimental design & laboratory experiments; U.A., Data analysis & manuscript w riting *Corresponding author: druzair94@gmail.com Phytotoxic and cytotoxic potentials of Chara schweinitzii (A. Braun) Kützing from Charsadda, Pakistan UNAB BEGUM 1 , *UZAIR AHMAD 2 1 Department of Botany, Bacha Khan University, 24420- Charsadda, Pakistan. 2 Department of Plant Protection, the University of Agriculture, 25120- Peshawar, Pakistan. ABSTRACT A study was conducted to screen out the phytotoxic and cytotoxic activities of methanol, chloroform, aqueous solution, n-hexane and ethanol crude extracts of Chara schweinitzii (A. Braun) Kützing. Results at 1000 μg ml -1 revealed highest 70% inhibition in ethanol extract. Results revealed highest LCL (Lower confidence limit) value in chloroform (102.95), followed by aqueous solution (78.88), crude methanol (30.62) and ethanol (0.28) while the least value was recorded in n-hexane (0.00). Results revealed highest UCL (Upper confidence limit) value in crude methanol extract (30702.47) followed by chloroform (3716.26), aqueous solution (1471.92) and n- hexane (469.35) while the least value was revealed in ethanol (369.87). Results revealed highest FI50 (Molecular weight) value in chloroform (325.04), followed by aqueous solution (235.31), crude methanol (200.82) and n- hexane (45.94) while the least value was revealed in ethanol (10.25). Results revealed peak lethality in chloroform with LD50 (Lethal dose) value (6.34), followed by crude methanol extract (11.79) and ethyl acetate (15.86) while the least lethality was revealed in n-hexane with the LD50 value (48.23). Key words: Charsadda, C. schweinitzii , Cytotoxic, Inhibition, Mortality, Phytotoxic INTRODUCTION Algae provide the important source, which includes the primary and secondary metabolites; the algae can create various collections of bioactive products. They are biologically agile and are used in pharmaceutical industries worldwide (Rania et al., 2008). Algae are the main components to make the aquatic territory globally (Oswald, 2003). Chara is recognized by its thalloid body, profusely branched, macroscopic and multicellular body while they grow up to 20-30 cm (rarely 1 m). Chara have specialized rhizoids whereas the major axis also give them a good support (Neelesh, 1997). The Chara schweinitzii is highly valuable as they are found everywhere in nature. One of the economic values of C. schweinitzii is that they have calcium carbonate deposits, and have a greater amount of calcium at the bottom surface of the lake, but with the passage of time the entire lake fills up with the deposits of calcium, which is termed as calcareous (Aslam et al., 2001). They are filled with a greater number of polysaccharides, vitamins, poly- unsaturated fatty acids and minerals, which are enabling them to be the producers of the huge arrangement of toxic and other biologically active compounds. The algae play various dominant roles in biomedicine field, due to which the researchers have received greater attention on C. schweinitzii (Naila et al., 2005; Ghazala et al. , 2005; Shahnaz et al., 2006; Khalid and Shameel, 2011a, b; 2012a— d). The importance of the selected specie is that they make aquatic territories into our valuable society. C. schweinitzii (green algae) is produced in fresh water and is related to Charophyta. The C. schweinitzii is a cosmopolitan species which is been founded in all of the regions of the world. The amount of Ca and Mg 2 CO 3 in the underwater muddy pools and lakes of Charsadda region is in excess, which is the justification to conduct our research at the said region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The presence of heavy water in the tested region is also in abundance, which makes the Nisatta region (Charsadda district) an excellent characteristic for collecting the tested species (Aslam et al., 2001). The local names of C. schweinitzii are sand grass, stonewort or musk grass. C. schweinitzii grow into the deep water (from 4 cm - 20 m) which are adhered to the bottom of the water inside the lakes or ponds. They produce various coloured pigments, from green - grey colour. Their size ranges from 1 mm - 5 cm in length. Their main stem have spirals of various other branch lets and adhered at continually spaced joints. The C. schweinitzii has monoecism character, whereas the cortex is also absent and are easily known from other species of the same order. They possess high environmental tolerance, due to a reason of existing at the bottom of lakes and also in the areas of shallow water. The main objective of our study is to find out the hidden natural environmental assets relating to the bioactive compounds which are commercially