Volume 8, Issue 7, July 2015, Pages 520–525
Open Access
Original research
- 1 University Center of UAEM-Temascaltepec, Autonomous University of the Mexico State, Mexico
- 2 Dairy Science Department, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt
- 3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Autonomous University of the Mexico State, Mexico
- 4 Autonomous University of the Tamaulipas, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Tamaulipas, Mexico
- Received 15 April 2015, Revised 20 May 2015, Accepted 15 June 2015, Available online 9 July 2015
- Open Access funded by Hainan Medical College
- Under a Creative Commons license
Abstract
Objective
To explore anthelmintic effects of oral administration of aqueous extract of Sauce llorón (Salix babylonica; SB) against gastrointestinal nematodes and Moniezia spp.
Methods
Sixteen
Pelibuey male lambs of 3–4 months of age and (23.7 ± 3.3) kg body
weight were used in a completely randomized design to be fed a total
mixed ration (Control; SB0), or Control plus SB extract using 20 (SB20),
40 (SB40) and 60 (SB60) mL/lamb/day for 45 days. Lambs had a natural gastrointestinal nematodes and Moniezia
spp. infection and had never been treated with chemical anthelmintic
drugs. Individual faecal samples were collected for ova counting using
McMaster procedure after 0, 7, 14, 21, 30 and 45 days post extract
administration.
Results
No extract dose × day interactions for both gastrointestinal nematodes and Moniezia spp. egg count were found. Administration of SB extract had a higher effect (quadratic effect, P = 0.006
4) at dose of 20 mL SB/lamb/day for gastrointestinal nematode eggs
during the first 21 days; however, the dose of SB40 tended (linear
effect, P = 0.089 7) to be more effective than the others for Moniezia spp. egg during the first 7 days. Sampling day had a linear (P = 0.043 6) effect on Moniezia spp. egg count.
Conclusions
The aqueous extract of SB could be more effective against nematodes at 20 and at 40 mL/lamb/day for Moniezia
spp. The use of the SB extract could represent a promising alternative
to synthetic anthelmintics for the treatment of gastrointestinal
nematodes and Moniezia spp. in small ruminants from organic and conventional production systems.
Keywords
- Anthelmintic;
- Extract;
- Moniezia spp.;
- Nematodes
1. Introduction
Nematode
parasitic diseases have been classified as a major health and welfare
problems in small ruminants. It is a major cause of sheep and goat
mortality in tropical Mexico[1] and other tropical countries[2] and [3] where climatic factors favor the development of parasitic infection[4]. This action leads to serious economic loss for small holder farmers[5],
delay in achieving target animal weights, the increase in feed
requirements, reduced quality of carcass, and predisposition to other
diseases[6].
It would be expected that reductions in the level of parasitism would
be followed by improvement on the performance of parasitized hosts[7].
The husbandry system in which livestock are raised could affect the
exposure to nematode parasites. In situations where Mexican farmers are
almost entirely dependent on grazing, exposure to nematode larvae is
continuous throughout the year[8].
A lot of money are annually used to combat helminth parasites in livestock[2].
To date, the repeated use of chemical anthelmintic drugs is a usual
method for gastrointestinal parasitism control. However, chemical
anthelmintic drugs have several disadvantages, including lack of
availability in some areas, inconsistent quality in some countries,
prohibitive cost, as well as environmental contamination[9]. Furthermore, regular and misuse of chemical anthelmintics have resulted in nematode resistance[10],
along with the risk of contamination of animal products; a problem
which is most serious in sheep and goats in the tropics and developing
countries. Routine use of chemical anthelmintics has also reduced the
development of natural immunity against helminthes[11]. This has compiled to search for alternatives on helminth control methods[3], [12] and [13].
One of the alternative methods is the use of ethnoveterinary medicine (i.e., phytotherapy) using traditional herbs with anthelmintics activity [13], [14] and [15].
It is a new, safe, convenient and environmentally friendly product with
reduced potential for the development of nematode resistance[6].
However, ethnoveterinary knowledge and plant-based anthelmintics were
the mainstays of anthelmintic treatment, and are still widely used in
many traditional societies[16].
The potential benefits of ethnoveterinary livestock anthelmintics are
clear, as the latter societies often depend on livestock, and live in
areas where synthetic anthelmintics are unavailable, unaffordable,
and/or of poor quality. However, the demonstration of ovicidal,
larvicidal and adulticidal activities of traditional medicinal plants
extracts and determination of therapeutic doses remain in the
preliminary stages.
Mejía-Hernández et al. [15] tested the anthelmintic effects of Salix babylonica L. (S. babylonica L.) (i.e., SB) and Leucaena leucocephala
Lam. water extracts at level of 30 mL/lamb/day for a 63 d trial in
growing lambs and concluded that both extracts could be promising
alternatives to conventional chemical anthelmintics for the control of
gastrointestinal parasites in small ruminants. Therefore, this work
aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Sauce llorón (S. babylonica L.) aqueous extract against gastrointestinal nematodes and Moniezia spp. in growing Pelibuey lambs of tropical regions in Mexico.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Lamb's management, treatments and feeding
Sixteen
Pelibuey male lambs with 3–4 months of age and (23.7 ± 3.3) kg live
body weight, after weaning, were used in a completely randomized design
to study the anthelmintic effects of oral administration of aqueous
extract of S. babylonica (i.e., SB) against gastrointestinal nematode and Moniezia spp. Selected lambs had a natural gastrointestinal nematodes and Moniezia
spp. infection and had never been treated with any chemical
anthelmintic drugs or traditional herbs with anthelmintic activity.
Lambs were individually housed in pens of 1.24 m × 0.82 m. After 2 weeks
of adaptation for consuming a total mixed ration (TMR) composed of
[g/kg dry matter (DM) basis] alfalfa hay 150, sorghum grain 530, soybean
meal 220, molasses 20, fish meal 35, salt 20 mineral and vitamin
premix, 25 (containing per kg of mineral premix: 19.60 g/kg calcium,
22.10 g/kg sulfur, 4 mg/kg cobalt, 15.93 mg/kg iodine, 15.49 mg/kg
selenium; 860.73 mg/kg copper, 224.07 mg/kg zinc). The TMR had the
following nutritional composition (g/kg DM): organic matter 912.4, crude
protein 173.6, neutral detergent fiber 131.0, acid detergent fiber 80.3
and hemicelluloses 51.0. The SB extract content for secondary
metabolites was determined according to Cowan [17].
The TMR used was the same that was previously fed to lambs of the experiment done at the same farm by Salem et al. [18].
Lambs were fed the same TMR with the addition of 0, 20, 40 and 60 mL SB
extract/lamb/day for Control (SB0), SB20, SB40 and SB60, respectively.
Extract was orally administered daily at 7:00 h before morning feeding
to each lamb for 45 days of the experimental period. Lambs were fed at
7:00, 13:00 and 17:00 h with a TMR that was formulated to meet all of
their nutrient requirements[19]. Feed and water intake was recorded daily during the experimental period.
2.2. Parasitological test
The egg count was performed using the same methods described before in Mejía-Hernández et al. [15].
Briefly, faecal samples from each lamb, within each experimental group,
were collected rectally before morning feeding. Ova were counted using
McMaster procedure[20].
The egg count was performed after 0 (pre-extract administration), 7,
14, 21, 30 and 45 days post extract administration. Faecal samples were
evaluated for the presence of worm eggs by a salt flotation technique[21],
where the eggs were counted by the McMaster method. Faecal pellets were
collected and weighed, and 60 mL of saturated salt solution added per
gram of faeces. The pellets were broken up using a mechanical stirrer,
and then strained in a sieve with an aperture of 250 μm. Ten milliliters
of the strained solution was used for determination of faecal egg
counts using a 2 chamber McMaster slide with a limit of detection of 200
eggs/g faeces. Identification of nematodes and Moniezia spp. eggs in the faeces were achieved according to the standard methods of MAFF [21].
Faeces contents of individual animal's samples were brought up to
500 mL saturated salt solution. Five aliquots of faecal content (one
gram of fresh faeces) from each lamb were used to identify the worm egg
species of nematodes and Moniezia spp. in the sub-sample by
counting using a stereoscope (40×). Faecal cultures were prepared for
each experimental period as 5 replicates of pooled samples from each
lamb as described by Terrill et al. [22] to allow counting and identification of parasite nematode larvae to species. Mean egg counts of nematodes and Moniezia spp. from each lamb, within each experimental treatment, were used for statistical comparisons among experimental groups.
