In Vitro Anthelmintic Activity of Crude Extracts of Artemisia herba-alba and Punica granatum against Haemonchus contortus

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) are the major limiting factor for the successfulness of livestock production throughout the world. Emergence of resistance strains as well as scarcity and high cost of the currently available drugs has led to the evaluation of other alternative helminth control options, mainly from plants. The current study is aimed at investigating the in vitro anthelmintic efficacy of crude methanolic extracts of two traditionally important medicinal plants, Artemisia herba-alba and Punica granatum, against Haemonchus contortus using adult motility assay (AMA) and egg hatch inhibition assay (EHIA). Four graded concentrations of the extracts were tested for both the AMA (10, 5, 2.5, and 1.25 mg/mg) and EHIA (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/mL) in replicates. Albendazole and phosphate-buffered saline (AMA) or distilled water (EHIA) were used as the positive and negative controls, respectively. The crude extracts of A. herba-alba and P. granatum exhibited a potential anthelmintic activity at all dose levels in a concentration- and time-dependent fashion. The highest concentration (10 mg/mL) of all the extracts caused a significantly (p < 0.05) superior nematocidal activity compared to the negative control. Moreover, significant and concentration-dependent egg hatching inhibition effect was observed from both plant extracts. Maximal (98.67%) egg hatching inhibition effect was exhibited by the flower extract of A. herba-alba at 1 mg/mL concentration. The relative egg hatch inhibition efficacy indicated that both plants caused a significantly (p < 0.05) greater egg hatch inhibition within 48 hr of exposure. The current study validated the traditional use of both plants as a natural anthelmintic against H. contortus justifying a need to undertake detail pharmacological and toxicological investigation on both plants.