Anthelmintic Potential of Plant Extracts on Helminths in Small Ruminants

Date

2019-12

Authors

Luce, Taylor W.

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Abstract

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) cause substantial economic loss in the livestock industry. Currently, many anthelmintic drugs being used to treat GIN fall under only three classes of drugs. This leaves relatively few available alternatives to further control and treat GIN in livestock. Livestock producers, through continuous and non-therapeutic use of anthelmintics, have contributed to rapid development of anthelmintic resistant (AR) GIN. Therefore, it is imperative to develop and evaluate alternative anthelmintic treatments in order to effectively treat GIN and AR GIN. Research into numerous plants and plant extracts with anthelmintic potential have demonstrated promise as effective anthelmintic alternatives. Therefore, it was hypothesized that plant botanicals from wormwood (Artemisia annua), garlic (Allium sativum), and pumpkin seed (Cucurbita maxima) will prove to be just as effective as fenbendazole when treating GIN in small ruminants. Allicin exhibited a time-to-death similar to fenbendazole at the highest concentration tested (2.15 ± 0.54 h vs. 1.00 ± 0.54 h, p= 0.1527). Haemonchus contortus were exposed to botanical compounds in vitro where time-to-death was observed. Wormwood, garlic, and pumpkin seed were evaluated independently at varying concentrations. The current study revealed that allicin and pumpkin seed oil demonstrated significant anthelmintic activity against adult H. contortus at the concentrations tested.

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Keywords

Botanicals anthelmintics, Haemonchus contorts, Parasites, Natural treatments, Herbs, Small ruminants, Goats sheep

Citation

Luce, T. W. (2019). <i>Anthelmintic potential of plant extracts on helminths in small ruminants</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.

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