Evaluation of anthelmintic activity of Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl and Albizia lebbeck L. against gastrointestinal helminths of sheep.

ABSTRACTThe present study was designed to determine in vitro and in vivo anthelminticactivity of Lagenaria (L.) siceraria and Albizia (A.) lebbeck againstgastrointestinal helminths of sheep. In vitro anthelmintic activity of crude aqueousmethanolic extract (CAME) of both plants was evaluated against Haemonchus(H.) contortus and their eggs through adult motility assay (AMA) and egg hatchtest (EHT), respectively. In vivo anthelmintic activity of different concentrations(1.0-8.0g/kg-1) of crude powder (CP) and CAME of both plants was determinedusing faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) in sheep naturally infected withgastrointestinal helminths. CAME of both plants exhibited strong in vitroanthelmintic activity and distinct inhibitory effects on hatching of H. contortuseggs as determined through AMA and EHT. In AMA, the efficacy of A. lebbeck(3.75 μg/ mL-1) was higher (P≤0.05) as compared to L. siceraria (4.21 μg/mL-1), whilein EHT, L. siceraria (2.53 μg/mL-1) was found more potent (P≤0.05) than A. lebbeck(2.75 μg/mL-1). However, in vivo, maximum reduction in egg per gram of faeces wasobserved as 46.7% and 45.9% with CP and CAME of L. siceraria and as 39.0% and47% with those of A. lebbeck at 8g/ kg-1 on 15 days post-treatment, respectively.The present data may indicate that L. siceraria and A. lebbeck contain stronganthelmintic agent that act either in vivo or in vitro which may justify theirtraditional use as ethnoveterinary medicine.