BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 21, Number 7, July 2020 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 2966-2970 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d210712 Short Communication: Phytochemical screening and toxicity of ethanol extract of Sauropus androgynus AWALUDIN 1, , KARTINA 1 , DIANA MAULIANAWATI 1 , WASMEN MANALU 2 , ANDRIYANTO 2 , RIKA SEPTIANA 1 , AGUS ARFANDI 1 , YUBAL LALANG 1 1 Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science, Universitas Borneo Tarakan. Jl. Amal Lama No. 1, North Kalimantan, Indonesia. Tel./fax. +62 1153011775/0551-2052558,  email: awaludin@borneo.ac.id 2 Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Institut Pertanian Bogor. Jl Agatis, Darmaga Campus, Bogor 16680, West Java, Indonesia Manuscript received: 2 May 2020. Revision accepted: 8 June 2020. Abstract. Awaludin, Kartina, Maulianawati D, Manalu W, Andriyanto, Septiana R, Arfandi A, Lalang Y. 2020. Short Communication: Phytochemical screening and toxicity of ethanol extract of Sauropus androgynus. Biodiversitas 21: 2966-2970. Katuk (Sauropus androgynus L.) (SAL) is a plant used to increase the production of breast milk for nursing mothers and lactating mammalian animals because this plant contains high sterols. Phytosterols are plant sterols known to play a role in the synthesis and secretion of progesterone and estradiol. Progesterone and estradiol are hormones that are involved in controlling the reproduction and mammary gland growth and development in mammalian animals. Estradiol also stimulates vitellogenin synthesis in oviparous animals such as avian and fish. The study was designed to determine the phytochemical contents and the level of toxicity of the SAL ethanol extract. The research was conducted in 4 phases i.e., (i) extraction of SAL samples using ethanol 70%, (ii) the analysis of phytochemical content of SAL extract using GCMS, (iii) toxicity test of SAL extract in giant tiger shrimp larvae, and (iv) data analysis. The results of GCMS analysis showed that the SAL extract was dominated by the fatty acid group (62.92%), phenol (15.3%), and terpenoids (4.03%). These compounds have roles in animal reproduction and production. The mortality data of giant tiger shrimp larvae were analyzed using probit analysis to determine the LC50 of ethanol extract of SAL. The results of toxicity test for 24 hours showed that the LC50 of the ethanol extract of SAL was 552.208 mg/L. The phytochemical analysis showed that SAL extract has dominant concentrations of fatty acid, phenol, and terpenoid that could be used to improve the reproduction and production of fish. Keywords: Penaeus monodon, phytochemical, Sauropus androgynus, toxicity INTRODUCTION The use of plants in various fields has been widely studied. Various chemical compounds in plants can be used to improve reproduction and production in fisheries (Citarasu 2010). One of the beneficial plants found in Indonesia is katuk (Sauropus androgynus L. or SAL). Sauropus androgynus L. is a shrub plant that can be used as a vegetable and this plant grows at an altitude of 5-1.300 meters above sea level. Several studies have analyzed phytochemical contents of SAL. It was reported that SAL contains papaverine with a concentration of 5.8 g/kg of fresh leaves (Bender and Ismail 1975) while (Singh et al. 2011) reported that SAL methanolic extracts contained polyphenol (1150.95 mg/100g), Anthocyanin (82.94 mg/100g), Carotenoid (19.40 mg/100g), Ascorbic acid (314.30 mg/100g), Tannin (88.68 mg/100g), Chlorophyll (45.60 mg/100g) with high antioxidant activity (85,63%). (Agrawal et al. 2014) report that ethanolic extract of S. androgynus leaf contains alkaloids, carbohydrates, tannin, protein, sterol, and flavonoids. Suprayogi (2000) found that SAL contained octadecanoic acid, 9-ecosine, 5,8,11- heptnearrienoicacid, 9,12,15-octekatrienoicacid, 11,14,17- eicosatrienoicacid, androstan-17- one-3-ethyl-3-hydroxy 5- alpha, and 7,3,4-dimethyl-2oxocyclopent-3-enylacetic acid. In addition, SAL leaves have high antioxidant contents (Zuhra et al. 2008). Sauropus androgynus is a vegetable that can be used medicinally (Andarwulan et al. 2010). S. androgynus leave is well known as a vegetable that has the potential to increase breast milk for nursing mothers. Sa’roni et al. (2004) stated that S. androgynus leaves could increase milk production by 50.7% in nursing mothers. Andarwulan et al. (2012) and Soka et al. (2010) report that consumption of S. androgynus can increase milk synthesis and production in lactating women. Sauropus androgynus leaves contain phytosterols (stigmasterol, sitosterol, and fukosterol) (Subekti 2007). The existence of these compounds is a precursor of androgen and estrogen hormones which are hormones involved in reproduction. Burton and Wells (2002) state that phytoestrogen, one of phytosterols, is a phytochemical in plants that is structurally and functionally similar to 17ß- estradiol. 17ß-estradiol is a signal that stimulates the transcription of vitellogenin gene in the hepatocytes to produce vitellogenin. Vitellogenin is a complex protein used as a precursor of yolk protein for synthesis of yolk contents of the developing oocytes in the oviparous