Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ELUCIDATION OF IN VITRO AND IN VIVO ANTHELMINTHIC EFFICACY OF ARTEMISIA ABSINTHIUM IN SHEEP AND CALF MODEL

Shahjahan Alam, T.K. Sarkar, Alok Mishra, Preeti Bisht, Sakshi Tiwari and Amit Shukla

Abstract

The present study was designed to determine the in vitro and In vivo efficacy of Artemisia absinthium for ruminants targeting standard model of Haemonchus contortus. The In vitro study was conducted to determine the efficacy of the extract on calves naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes. For In vitro trials, a minimum of ten worms were exposed in three replicates to each of the treatments in separate petridish at room temperature (25-30oC). Group I was treated with Closantel @ 0.5 mg/mL and group II served as untreated control. Groups III and IV were treated with crude ethanolic extract (CEE) and crude aqueous extract (CAE) of A. absinthium @ 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/mL, respectively. The inhibition of motility and/or mortality of the worms kept in the above treatments were used as selective marker for anthelminthic activity. For in vivo trials, healthy young calves (n=32) were randomly and equally divided into four different groups having 8 calves in each group. CEE and CAE of A. absinthium were orally administrated to calves as a single dose @ 250 mg/kg body weight in group II and group III respectively. Group IV was treated with Closantel at the dose of 10 mg/ kg body weight whereas, group I served as untreated control. The quantification of faecal egg numbers was performed by using McMaster technique. In vitro studies revealed a significant anthelminthic effects of CAE and CEE on live adult H. contortus worms (P < 0.05) in terms of the paralysis and/or death of the worms at different hours post-treatment (PT). CEE of the plant leaves proved good anthelminthic at higher doses i.e. 100% mortality against H. contortus @ doses of 50, 75 and 100 mg/mL concentration at 6 hours post treatment. CAE of the plant shows only 80% mortality against H. contortus at 6 hour PT. The in vivo study revealed significant (P<0.05) reduction of 92.44% in egg per gram (EPG) in calves treated with Closantel @ 10 mg/kg body weight followed by 84.06 % reduction in group II and 81.94% reduction in group III on day 21 post treatment (PT). It is concluded that A. absinthium leaves possess anthelminthic activity against gastrointestinal nematodes of calves in form of crude ethanolic extract (CEE).