Comparative efficacy of fenbendazole and Aloe Vera juice in gastrointestinal nematode infestation in goats

Introduction

Goats are sociable and intelligent animals that have been domesticated for more than 10,000 years and are valued for their meat, milk, skin, and fiber (Genaro et al., 2010). However, gastrointestinal nematodiasis is one of the most important parasitic diseases affecting goats, leading to significant economic losses due to mortality, reduced growth rate, weight loss, and decreased meat and milk production (Islam, 1985 and Rajakaruna et al., 2011). Infected animals commonly show clinical signs such as anorexia, diarrhoea, weakness, anaemia, rough hair coat, and edema depending on the parasite species (Babjak et al., 2017). Control of gastrointestinal nematodes in small ruminants has largely depended on the use of chemical anthelmintics. However, indiscriminate and frequent use of these drugs has led to the development of widespread anthelmintic resistance, making parasite control increasingly difficult worldwide (Kaplan, 2004 and Eke et al., 2019). This situation has created a need to explore alternative, safe, and environment friendly methods for controlling parasitic infections. Medicinal plants have gained increasing attention as potential alternatives to synthetic anthelmintics due to their safety, affordability, and eco-friendly nature. Several plants used in ethnoveterinary medicine have shown promising anthelmintic properties (Waller, 1999 and Laudato et al., 2013). Among these, Aloe Vera has been reported to possess larvicidal and egghatching inhibition effects against gastrointestinal nematodes such as Haemonchus contortus in sheep and goats (Eguale et al., 2007, Maphosa et al., 2010 and Ahmed et al., 2013). Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate and compare the therapeutic efficacy of fenbendazole and Aloe Vera juice against gastrointestinal nematodes in goats as a potential alternative approach for parasite control [14,17,29,8,20,13,39,24,12,26,2] . Leukocyte Count (DLC) were analysed using an automated blood analyser (Abacus ABJ Vet-5). Serum biochemical parameters including Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), Total Protein, Albumin and Globulin were estimated using standard assay kits with a semi-automatic biochemistry analyser (Alta ADX-CHEM-220). Faecal samples were examined by direct microscopy, sedimentation and flotation techniques, and the intensity of infection was determined by calculating eggs per gram (EPG) using the Modified McMaster egg counting technique.

Materials and methods

Preparation and storage of aqueous Aloe Vera juice

A crude extract was prepared as described by Kaingu et al. (2012) where fresh Aloe barbadensis leaves were chopped using machete (knife) and placed in a rotary blender and blended to slurry. The slurry was then squeezed to get the viscous juice which was placed in the glass bottles and stored in a refrigerator (Plate 1, 2 and 3) In 50gm of Aloe Vera pulp 25ml of Aloe Vera juice was obtained [19] .

Treatment protocol

Goats with faecal samples positive for gastrointestinal nematodal eggs and having EPG>500 were selected for the present study and were randomly divided into three groups viz., I, II and III (Positive control) consisting of 30 animals in each two-treatment Group I, and Group II and 10 animals were kept as positive control in Group III (Table1). Two different drugs were administered as a single dose and the therapeutic efficacy was evaluated on day 14 th and 21 st post treatment. Multiple electrolytes, hematinic injection, liver protectants and multivitamins were used as supportive therapy.

Results and discussion

Clinical Findings and Body Parameters.

Goats naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes, predominantly exhibited physical weakness and low body condition scores between 2.0 and 3.0. A thorough physical examination revealed slight pale to pale conjunctival mucous membranes, rough hair coats, and the of diarrhoea with pasty faeces leading to significant soiling of the tail and hindquarters 2).

Out of the 156 infected goats, 70 animals having EPG ≥ 500 and showing similar clinical and hemato-biochemical parameters were selected for therapeutic study. These were divided into three groups: Group I (n=30) treated with fenbendazole suspension, Group II (n=30) treated with crude Aloe Vera juice and Group III (n=10) kept as untreated positive control. Clinical, haematological, and biochemical parameters were recorded on day 0 (before treatment), and subsequently on day 14 and day 21 post-treatment. [30,28] .

Respiratory rate (breaths/min) also showed a significant reduction in the treated groups on day 14 and day 21 following treatment, while the untreated control group exhibited a progressive increase. The values are shown in [30,28] .

Heart rate (beats/min) decreased significantly in both treated groups after treatment, whereas the untreated control group showed a gradual increase during the observation period.

Similar observations were also reported by Rajpura et al.

(2019) and Puri and Waghmare (2008) [28,30] . Body weight showed improvement in both treated groups during the post-treatment period, while the untreated control group showed a gradual decrease. [4,23,35,34] . [3,21] .

Hematological parameters

The mean TEC increased significantly in both treated groups during the post-treatment period, whereas the untreated control group showed a gradual decrease. 2008) reported a significant increase in erythrocyte count following effective anthelmintic treatment [3,21,28,30] . PCV values also increased significantly in the treated groups after treatment, while the untreated control group showed a decreasing trend. Similar findings were reported by [32,36,3] . TLC values were elevated before treatment and decreased significantly in both treated groups following therapy, whereas the untreated control group showed a gradual increase. Similar leukocytosis in infected goats was reported by Abdel et al. (2000) and Shashank et al. (2019), suggesting an immune response to parasitic infection [36,1] .

Neutrophil and eosinophil counts were significantly higher before treatment and decreased markedly in the treated groups after therapy, whereas the untreated group showed an increasing trend. Similar findings of eosinophilia and neutrophilia associated with parasitic infections were reported by Rajpura et al. (2019), Arora et al. (2003) and Maiti et al. (1999). In contrast, lymphocyte count increased significantly after treatment, while the untreated group showed a decrease. Similar observations were reported by Rajpura et al. (2019) and Jayraw and Raote (2004) [7,30,25] . Erythrocytic indices also showed improvement following treatment. MCV and MCH values decreased significantly towards normal range in the treated groups, while MCHC showed a slight increase, whereas the untreated group showed unfavorable changes. Similar observations were reported by Ameen et al. (2006, 2010), who stated that erythrocytic indices tend to return toward normal values following effective anthelmintic therapy [5,6] . Biochemical examination of goats naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes revealed decreased total protein levels before treatment. After treatment, total protein increased significantly in both treated groups (Fenbendazole and Aloe Vera), whereas the untreated control group showed a gradual decrease (Table 5). Similar findings were reported by Shashank et al. (2019) and Arora et al. (2003), who observed reduced total protein levels in parasitized goats due to protein-losing gastroenteropathy and intestinal damage [36,7] . Serum albumin levels were reduced before treatment and increased significantly in both treated groups during the posttreatment period, while the untreated control group showed a decreasing trend. [36,37,27] . Globulin levels were higher before treatment and decreased significantly following treatment in both treated groups, whereas the untreated control group showed a gradual increase. [36,10,16,31] . [9,15,21] . Goats with an initial faecal egg count (EPG) of more than 500 were divided into three groups. Group I (n=30) was treated with fenbendazole at 7.5 mg/kg body weight orally, Group II (n=30) received crude aqueous Aloe Vera juice (1 ml or 2 g/5 kg body weight), and Group III (n=10) served as untreated control. In Group I, the mean pre-treatment EPG was 1695±22 on day 0. Following treatment with fenbendazole, the EPG significantly decreased to 333±7 on day 14 showing 80.35% efficacy which further declined to 25±4 on day 21, showing a maximum efficacy of 98.53%. Significant improvement in clinical signs and hemato-biochemical parameters were also observed. In Group II, the baseline mean EPG was 1723±22 on day 0. After treatment with Aloe Vera, the EPG decreased to 880±6 on day 14 showing 48.93% efficacy and further to 440±6 on day 21, indicating a final efficacy of 74.46%. Similar improvements in clinical and hemato-biochemical parameters were recorded, though the reduction in parasite load was slower than fenbendazole. Previous studies have also reported the anthelmintic potential of Aloe Vera, attributed to bioactive compounds such as aloin (Sikarwar et al., 2010; Dubey et al., 2012). However, the present findings indicate that fenbendazole is significantly more effective than Aloe Vera in reducing gastrointestinal nematode egg counts in goats [38,11] .

Biochemical parameters

Egg Per Gram (EPG)

Therapeutic efficacy

Conclusions

References

1. Abdel GH, El-Bahi MM, El-Sayed LH. Some studies on the hematological and biochemical changes in goats naturally infected with Trichostrongylidae. Egypt J Agric Res. 2000;78(1):381-394.
2. Ahmed M, Laing GD, Miller GI. In vitro anthelmintic activity of extracts of Azadirachta indica and Terminalia arjuna against Haemonchus contortus and Trichostrongylus colubriformis. J Helminthol. 2013;87(3):332-338.
3. Ahmed M, Misra RK, Gaur M. Hemato-biochemical profile in goats suffering from gastrointestinal parasitism in Jaipur district of Rajasthan. J Livest Sci. 2015;6(1):8488.
4. Al-Quaisy HHK, Al-Zubaidy AJ, Altaif KI, Makkawi TA. The pathogenicity of haemonchosis in sheep and goats in Iraq. I. Clinical, parasitological and haematological findings. Vet Parasitol. 1987;24(3-4):221-228.
5. Ameen SA, Joshua RA, Adedeji OS, Raheem AK, Akingbade AA. Erythrocyte values in West African Dwarf (WAD) kids suffering from haemonchosis. J Anim Vet Adv. 2006;5(11):948-951.
6. Ameen SA, Joshua RA, Adedeji OS, Raheem AK, Akingbade AA. Haematological and biochemical changes in Nigerian goats naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes. J Vet Parasitol. 2010;24(2):155-158.
7. Arora N, Sharma DK, Kushwaha P, Agrawal N. Effect of gastrointestinal nematodiasis on some haematological and biochemical profiles in goats. Indian J Anim Sci. 2003;73(10):1083-1085.
8. Babjak M, Dolinská M, Konigová A, Várady M, Čerňanská D. The first survey on anthelmintic resistance in nematodes of sheep and goats in Slovakia. Helminthologia. 2017;54(4):283-291.
9. Barua CC, Ahmed N, Roy JD, Gazal AZ. Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthic infestations in goats of Goat Research Station, Byrnihat, Meghalaya. J Vet Parasitol. 2015;29(2):110-114.
10. Bhat MS, Sudhan NA, Mir AQ. Haemato-biochemical studies in sheep infested with natural gastrointestinal nematodiasis. Indian J Vet Med. 2004;24(2):76-78.
11. Dubey PK, Ganeshpurkar A, Bansal N, Dubey N. Studies on antimicrobial and anthelmintic potential of Aloe. Int J Res Ayurveda Pharm. 2012;3(6):841-843.
12. Eguale T, Tilahun G, Debella A, Feleke A, Makonnen E. In vitro and in vivo anthelmintic activity of crude extracts of Coriandrum sativum against Haemonchus contortus. J Ethnopharmacol. 2007;110(3):428-433.
13. Eke SS, Wama ET, Silas K. Prevalence and anthelmintic resistance of gastrointestinal nematodes in small ruminants. Int J Vet Sci Anim Husb. 2019;4(3):45-50.
14. Genaro CM, Mattiello S. The importance of social behaviour for goat welfare in livestock farming. Small Rumin Res. 2010;90(1-3):1-10.
15. Godara R, Sharma RL, Sodhi SS. Efficacy of fenbendazole, levamisole and ivermectin against gastrointestinal nematodes in Jamunapari goats. J Parasit Dis. 2011;35(2):219-221.
16. Hassan M, Hoque MA, Islam SA, Khan SA, Hossain MB, Banu Q. Efficacy of anthelmintics against parasitic infections and their treatment effect on the production and blood indices in Black Bengal goats in Bangladesh. Turk J Vet Anim Sci. 2012;36(4):400-408.
17. Islam KS, Jabbar MA. Present situation of livestock and poultry diseases in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Poshushampad Unnayan Neeti O Kowshal. 1985;48(1):428-428.
18. Jayraw AK, Raote YV. Effect of anthelmintic treatment against gastrointestinal nematodes with a note on haematology and plasma proteins in goats. Indian Vet J. 2004;81(6):650-652.
19. Kaingu F, Kibor A, Waihenya R, Shivairo R, Mungai L. Efficacy of Aloe secundiflora crude extracts on Ascaridia galli In vitro. Sustain Agric Res. 2012;2(2):49-53.
20. Kaplan RM. Drug resistance in nematodes of veterinary importance: a status report. Trends Parasitol. 2004;20(10):477-481.
21. Katoch R, Mittra S, Agnihotri RK, Sharma AK. Winter strongylosis in sheep and goats at high altitude: a sporadic occurrence. Indian Vet J. 1998;75(3):271-272.
22. Katoch R, Yadav CL, Garg R. Seasonal dynamics of gastrointestinal nematodes in Barbari goats. Indian J Anim Sci. 2000;70(7):705-706.
23. Kumar S, Jakhar KK, Singh S, Pal M. Pathomorphological studies on gastrointestinal nematodosis in goats. Haryana Vet. 2008;47(1):54-56.
24. Laudato M, Capasso R. Useful plants for animal therapy. J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2013;18(3):224-244.
25. Maiti SK, Rao VN, Pal S, Ali SL. Clinico-haematological and therapeutic studies in parasitic gastroenteritis in sheep. Indian Vet J. 1999;76(4):345-347.
26. Maphosa V, Masika PJ, Bizimenyera ES, Eloff JN. In vitro anthelminthic activity of crude aqueous extracts of Aloe ferox, Leonotis leonurus and Elephantorrhiza elephantina against Haemonchus contortus. Trop Anim Health Prod. 2010;42(2):301-307.
27. Prasanthi B, Choudhuri PC, Syaamasunder N. Biochemical observations in ovine strongylosis. Indian Vet J. 1999;76(6):529-531.
28. Puri RM, Waghmare SP, Mode SG, Ghadge RS, Bhosale SP, Patel AA. Anaemia due to helminthiasis in a goat: a case report. Intas Polivet. 2008;9(2):302-303.
29. Rajakaruna RS, Warnakulasooriya KN. Gastrointestinal parasites in dairy cattle in Kandy district in Sri Lanka. Annu Res J Sri Lanka Assoc Adv Sci. 2011;11(1):92-99.
30. Rajpura NR, Mandali GC, Rao N, Patel AC. Study on clinico-haematobiochemical alterations in goats suffering from trichostrongylosis in Anand district of Gujarat. Indian J Vet Sci Biotechnol. 2019;15(2):10-13.
31. Rashid MH, Das AK, Matin MA, Sammadar K, Ahmad N. Haemato-biochemical profiles in liver fluke and gastrointestinal nematode infested sheep. Int J Appl Res. 2015;1(1):9-11.
32. Regassa A, Teshale S, Reta D, Takelye B. Efficacy of albendazole, tetramisole and ivermectin against gastrointestinal nematodes in naturally infected goats in Dale District, Southern Ethiopia. J Anim Vet Adv. 2013;12(11):1014-1018.
33. Sharma DK, Agrawal N, Kanaujia AS, Kushwaha P. Biochemical changes in Barbari goats experimentally infected with Haemonchus contortus. Indian J Anim Sci. 2001;71(11):1011-1014.
34. Sharma D, Vatsya S, Kumar RR. Impact of treatment of gastrointestinal nemathelminths on body weight of sheep and goats. J Parasit Dis. 2016;40(3):801-804.
35. Sharma P, Sharma D, Dogra PK, Mandial RK. Comparative efficacy of fenbendazole and oxyclozanidetetramisole combination against gastrointestinal nematodes in naturally infected Gaddi goats. Vet Res Int. 2014;2(1):15-17.
36. Shashank J, Prasad A, Mondal DB, Kumar K. Hematological and biochemical changes in goats naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes. J Anim Res. 2019;9(3):435-439.
37. Siddiqua A, Bhuiyan AKFH, Huq M. Hematological profile of Black Bengal goats naturally infected with internal parasites. Bangladesh Vet J. 1990;24(1-4):31-36.
38. Sikarwar MS, Patil MB, Sharma S, Bhat V. Aloe Vera: plant of immortality. Int J Pharm Sci Res. 2010;1(1):7-10.
39. Waller PJ. International approaches to the concept of integrated control of nematode parasites of livestock. Int J Parasitol. 1999;29(1):155-164.