Aim: The effective use of plant derivatives as anthelmintics is often overlooked due to their toxicity. Hence the objective of this work was to evaluate the toxicity of ginger powder used as an anthelmintic in pigs.
Materials and Methods: A total of 24 pigs were randomly allocated to four treatment groups and infected with 2650L3 mixed nematode larvae. The negative control (T0-) was not treated. The positive control (T0+) was treated with Mebendazole. T1 and T2 groups were treated with 12.5g/kg and 25g/kg of ginger crude powder respectively. The animals were followed for 4 weeks during which fecal and blood samples were collected for coprological and haemato-biochemical analyses.
Results:T2 group had the highest faecal egg count reduction (FECR) of 92.3% followed by T1 and T0+ groups with a FECR of 86.4% and 58.5% respectively. T0- animals recorded the highest levels of creatinine, ALAT, ASAT, Total cholesterol and albumin compared to treated animals. T2 group recorded the lowest levels of urea, total protein, albumin, ALAT, ASAT, Total cholesterol and globulin and all the values were within the normal range. Similarly, T1 group obtained normal values of cholesterol, ASAT and ALAT. Blood parameters were not affected by treatments, apart from platelets (359.50 x103/ μL) which were significantly (p≤0.05) higher in T2 group. In conclusion, half (12.5g/kg) and full (25g/kg) dose of ginger powder were not toxic but rather improved the renal and hepatic functions.
Conclusion: Therefore, treatment with 25g/kg of ginger powder can be recommended for effective and safe use in the treatment of gastrointestinal nematodes in pigs.
Key words: Blood parameters, Gastrointestinal nematodes, Ginger powder, Pigs.
|
