Bulletin of the National Research Centre (Oct 2021)

Efficacy of some Egyptian native plant extracts against Haemonchus contortus in vitro and in experimentally infected sheep along with the associated haematological and biochemical alterations

  • Noha M. F. Hassan,
  • Ahmed A. Zaghawa,
  • Nadia M. T. Abu-Elezz,
  • Mohamed A. Nayel,
  • Akram A. Salama

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s42269-021-00636-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 45, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Background Haemonchosis is a serious disease affecting ruminants’ productivity worldwide. Medicinal plants are deemed one of the most natural bio-products safely used as alternatives to the synthetic anthelmintics. In the present study, comparative efficacy of crude ethanolic extracts (CEEs) of Artemisia herba-alba (A. herba-alba), Balanites aegyptiaca (B. aegyptiaca) and Allium sativum (A. sativum) as alternative treatments was tested on Haemonchus contortus ( H. contortus). An in vitro test to evaluate the anthelmintic efficacy of various concentrations of extracts at 25, 30 and 50 mg/ml was accomplished on motility and viability of adult worms in comparison with albendazole, reference drug at 10 μg/ml at various time intervals. An in vivo test was carried out in lambs experimentally infected with H. contortus to detect anthelmintic activity of CEEs of A. herba-alba and B. aegyptiaca compared to albendazole. Fifteen parasite-free Baladi Egyptian lambs aged 4–8 months old were categorized into five groups, each of three lambs as follows: G1 was kept as uninfected untreated one, G2 was utilized as infected untreated group, G3 was given CEE of A. herba-alba, G4 was received CEE of B. aegyptiaca, and G 5 was treated with albendazole. Results The in vitro test revealed that CEE of B. aegyptiaca had the most significant anthelmintic activity on adult H. contortus followed by A. herba-alba, while A. sativum was of the lowest effect. The in vivo test showed that the CEE of B. aegyptiaca achieved an excellent faecal egg reduction (100%) at the 7th day post-treatment. The most efficient treatments that improved the haematological parameters and regained the level of serum total protein, albumin and A/G ratio, serum globulin, SGoT, SGPT, urea and creatinine to the almost normal levels were CEE of B. aegyptiaca, albendazole and CEE of A. herba-alba, respectively. Conclusions This study highlighted the marked anthelmintic potency of the CEEs of B. aegyptiaca and A. herba-alba on H. contortus and the superiority of CEE of B. aegyptiaca as a talented anti-parasitic medicinal plant for sheep.

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