Studies on the efficacy of <i>Spigelia anthelmia</i> extract as anthelminthic in growing goats

Abstract

Spigelia anthelmia is an important herbal remedy for worm infestation, neurologic disorder, pericarditis and other diseases of the heart that is continuously being used in traditional medical and homeopathic practices. Aqueous extract of Spigelia anthelmia leaf (AESAL) was administered orally to growing goats to determine its effect on gastrointestinal parasite of growing goats. Eighteen  growing goats were randomly allotted to three treatments with each treatment replicated thrice. Goats in treatment served as the control receiving no treatment, those in treatment 2 and 3 were administered with AESAL at a dose of 1.5ml/Kg body weight and 2ml/Kg body weight respectively. The phytochemical content of AESAL was determined using standard analytical procedure. Result revealed that AESAL contained 8.14±0.26 mg/g alkaloids, 145±1.49 mg/g tannin, 19.26±1.25 mg/g Saponin, and  6.7±0.92 mg/g flavonoid and 1.65±0.02 mg/g polyphenol. Round worm and liver fluke are the prevalent helminthes in the study area and the different doses of AESAL significantly (P<0.05) reduced the mean egg count (epg) of helminthes. The study revealed that AESAL is an effective anthelmintic in goats and dosage of 2ml/Kg body weight is the most effective as it resulted in total deparatization at 21 days post treatment.

Keywords: Spigelia anthelmia; leaf extract; phytochemical; anthelminthic; growing goats.