The liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, is a common parasite of ruminants in many countries in the temperate climates and often causes severe economic losses. Infection with both F. hepatica and F. gigantica may also occur in occasionally causing large scale epidemics. These parasites adversely affect the health status of animals and cause enormous economic losses Triclabendazole (TCBZ) is a worldwide, one of the most used drugs for the control of fasciolosis but the efficacy may depend on the susceptibility of the strain involved in the drug. However, resistance of the liver fluke to TCBZ in naturally infected sheep has been reported. Plants are being used as anthelmintic as the allopathic drugs today which offer substitute to the use of synthetic chemicals. This study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of aqueous and methanolic extracts of H. helix against fasciolosis in sheep. For this purpose, adult sheep was used for In vivo trials. Animals were screened for the presence of liver fluke and 30 sheep positive for liver fluke infestation were used for therapeutic trials. They were divided into 5 groups. Group A and B were given single dose of aqueous extract of Hedera helix at concentrations of 1.13 gm/kg and 2.25 gm/kg body weight respectively. Animals in C and D group were given 1.13 gm/kg and 2.25 gm/kg body weight respectively, while sheep in E group were given Triclabendazole at dose rate of 1 ml/5kg body weight. Fecal samples from each animal was collected in the morning, starting from day 0 pre-treatment and at days 4,7 and 14 post-treatment and were evaluated for the EPG through Modified McMaster method.
The comparative efficacy was analysed by two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS 20.0. A probability levels ˂0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
During In vivo experiment all the treatments showed significant reduction in EPG. The maximum reduction in EPG showed by crude aqueous extract (CAE) at day 4 post treatment at 1.13 gm/kg dose rate was 20.0012 %. There were no significant reduction in EPG at day 7 and 14 day for aqueous extract. The maximum reduction by aqueous extract at day 4 at dose
Summary
29
rate of 2.25 gm/kg was 40.47 % and at day 7 it was 45.24 %, whereas there was no significant reduction at day 14 post treatment. The maximum reduction showed by crude Methanolic extract at dose rate of 1.13 gm/kg at day 4 was 29.54 %. At day 7 post treatment the reduction of EPG was 40.09 % and at day 14 the reduction was 43.18 %. The maximum reduction showed by crude Methanolic extract at dose rate of 2.25 gm/kg at day 4 was 56.09 %. At day 7 post treatment the reduction of EPG was 64.85 % and at day 14 the reduction was 68.29 %. The positive control treated with Triclabendazole showed the maximum reduction of 97.5 % in eggs per gram (EPG).
So it is concluded from the study that the extracts of Hedera helix have the anthelmintic efficacy against liver fluke. The increase in dose rate of extracts may give better results. So there is need to conduct further studied and more trials on Hedera helix extracts under field conditions to achieve maximum efficiency levels.