In vitro Anthelmintic Efficacy of Medicinal Plants against Heterakis gallinarum in Village Chickens

Abstract

<p><em>Heterakis gallinarum </em>impedes the productivity of village chickens and hence their socio-economic contribution to rural communties. Smallholder farmers are endowed with vast indigenous knowledge for controlling <em>H. gallinarum </em>and they predominantly use <em>Aloe ferox</em>, <em>Agave sisalan</em>a and <em>Gunnera perpensa</em>. However, their anthelminthic efficacy is unknown. Therefore, our objective was to determine the <em>in vitro</em> anthelmintic efficacy of <em>A. ferox</em>, <em>A. sisalana</em> and <em>G. perpensa</em> against <em>H. gallinarum</em>. <em>Heterakis gallinarum</em> worms were recovered from caeca of 20 village chickens. Ten worms were randomly introduced in each of the 42 petri-dishes. Treatments were positive control (distilled water), negative control (mebendazole) and <em>A. ferox</em>, <em>A. sisalana</em> and <em>G. perpensa</em> aqueous extracts at dosage of 7.25, 14.5, 29 and 58 mg/mL. The procedure was done in triplicate. Worm motility and mortality indices were calculated. Among plant, <em>A. sisalana</em> (14.5 mg/mL) had the greatest (80%) worm motility inhibition at 12-h interval (p < 0.05) and the greatest worm mortality index (80%) showing that the plant has anthelmintic properties. Seventy percent of worms were recovered after 48 h following treatment with <em>A. ferox</em> (58 mg/mL). <em>Agave sisalana</em> (14.5 mg/mL) was the most efficient plant in reducing motility and causing mortality of <em>H. gallinarum</em> <em>in vitro. </em>Findings are useful to resource-constrained farmers who use crude extracts, to select the best plant and to pharmaceutical companies for manufacturing anthelmintic drugs.</p>