Efficacy of some Egyptian native plant extracts against Haemonchus contortus in vitro and in experimentally infected sheep along with the associated haematological and biochemical alterations

Abstract Background Haemonchosis is a serious disease affecting ruminants’ productivity worldwide. Medicinal plants are deemed one of the most natural bio-products safely used as alternatives to the synthetic anthelmintics. In the present study, comparative efficacy of crude ethanolic extracts (CEEs) of Artemisia herba-alba (A. herba-alba), Balanites aegyptiaca (B. aegyptiaca) and Allium sativum (A. sativum) as alternative treatments was tested on Haemonchus contortus ( H. contortus). An in vitro test to evaluate the anthelmintic efficacy of various concentrations of extracts at 25, 30 and 50 mg/ml was accomplished on motility and viability of adult worms in comparison with albendazole, reference drug at 10 μg/ml at various time intervals. An in vivo test was carried out in lambs experimentally infected with H. contortus to detect anthelmintic activity of CEEs of A. herba-alba and B. aegyptiaca compared to albendazole. Fifteen parasite-free Baladi Egyptian lambs aged 4–8 months old were categorized into five groups, each of three lambs as follows: G1 was kept as uninfected untreated one, G2 was utilized as infected untreated group, G3 was given CEE of A. herba-alba, G4 was received CEE of B. aegyptiaca, and G 5 was treated with albendazole. Results The in vitro test revealed that CEE of B. aegyptiaca had the most significant anthelmintic activity on adult H. contortus followed by A. herba-alba, while A. sativum was of the lowest effect. The in vivo test showed that the CEE of B. aegyptiaca achieved an excellent faecal egg reduction (100%) at the 7th day post-treatment. The most efficient treatments that improved the haematological parameters and regained the level of serum total protein, albumin and A/G ratio, serum globulin, SGoT, SGPT, urea and creatinine to the almost normal levels were CEE of B. aegyptiaca, albendazole and CEE of A. herba-alba, respectively. Conclusions This study highlighted the marked anthelmintic potency of the CEEs of B. aegyptiaca and A. herba-alba on H. contortus and the superiority of CEE of B. aegyptiaca as a talented anti-parasitic medicinal plant for sheep.