IN VITRO AND IN VIVO ANTHELMINTIC ACTIVITY OF FERULA COSTATA (KOR.) AGAINST GASTROINTESTINAL NEMATODES OF SHEEP

This paper describes the in vitro anthelmintic activity of crude methanol extract (CME) and its n-hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform and aqueous fractions of Ferula costata (Kor.), against Haemonchus contortus and in vivo activity of crude powder (CP) and CME against mixed culture of GINs. In vitro anthelmintic activity was determined by adult motility assay (AMA) and egg hatch test (EHT) against adult worms and eggs of Haemonchus contortus respectively. For in vivo activity, crude powder (CP) and CME of whole plant were administered to sheep infected with mixed species of GINs @ 1g, 2g & 3g kg -1 body weight (b.w) and the activity was estimated by reduction in eggs per gram (EPG) of faeces on days 3, 7 and 14 post treatment (PT). Based on Lethal Concentration 99% (LC99) at 12 hr PT in AMA, the order of the potency of different extracts was exactly similar to the order of fractionation process of CME, i.e. CME showed the best activity (33.47 mg ml -1 ) followed by hexane (39.77 mg ml -1