Anthelmintic Properties of Pterocarpus Erinaceus from Benin Pharmacopeia on Haemonchus Contortus, an Internal Parasite of Ruminants

In the tropics, ruminant animals face serious problems of gastrointestinal parasites. Resistance to certain chemical compounds, drug deposition in animal products, and high cost of chemical treatments call for the need to propose new approaches, including the use of plants with therapeutic properties. Our study tested in vitro the effects of Pterocarpus erinaceus on Haemonchus contortus. Eggs, larvae, and adult worms of the parasite were exposed to acetone and methanol extracts of the bark of the plant. A positive control, levamisole, and a negative control, PBS, were used for comparison. Results of the study reveals that, P. erinaceus was effective with 62.16% inhibition of larval migration and 90.62% of eggs failing to hatch. On adult worms P. erinaceus caused 100% mortality after 30 hours, whereas only 25% mortality was observed in PBS. In view of these results, P. erinaceus, like plants already successfully tested, could be a good alternative to synthetic anthelmintic molecules.