Anthelmintic activity of nine varieties of Cajanus cajan (L.) millsp on Haemonchus contortus from sheep

Internal parasitosis is the most important parasitism in small ruminants in tropical region. Synthetic anthelmintics are usually used for their control. Due to the emergence of resistance in worm population, the use of alternative methods such as plants bioactive molecules are developed. This study aimed at assessing anthelmintic activity of nine varieties of Cajanus cajan, a taniferous plant cultivated in West Africa.

Leaves of the nine varieties of Cajanus cajan were dried, ground and hydroacetonic extracts were obtained by cold maceration at a concentration of 60 mg/ml. Live adult of Haemonchus contortus were obtained from sheep's stomach and exposed, in triplicate, to the following solutions: hydroacetonic extracts (60 mg/ml), hydroacetonic extracts (60 mg/ml) associated with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) (50 mg/ml), Levamisole (20 mg/ml) and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution. Worm death time was recorded for each treatment.

Worms exposed to Levamisole recorded the shortest death time about 9.73±1.77 min. The potent of the extracts induced worm death time of 64.83±4.73 min while the least efficient induced a death time of 156.50±23.20 min. Worms in the PBS solution were still alive after 24 hours of exposure. These results indicated that the four varieties of C. cajan used in this study have promising wormicidal. Besides that, the effect of tannins were not the only compound responsible for the anthelmintic activity.