ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted in thirty goats which were divided
into five groups (T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5) each group comprising of six goats. The
prime objective of the experiment was to study the in vitro and in vivo anthelmintic
activity of Brassica nigra Linn. The in vitro antihelmintic investigations were carried
out for the determination of the time taken by the different concentrations of 5, 10
and 15% of the aqueous seed extract of B. nigra. The results were compared with
control Tyrode solution and the Albendazole 10gm/100ml concentration prepared
in Tyrode solution. The studies revealed that the efficacy of the Albendazole
10gm/100ml concentration prepared in Tyrode solution was higher than all the
different concentrations of aqueous seed extract used for the experiment.
The goats infested with Haemonchus sp. was used for the in vivo
anthelmintic studies carried out for 10 days. The haematological, biochemical and
determination of the EPG studies were undertaken to investigate the in vivo
anthelmintic properties of the plant in the naturally helminth infested goats.
The goats from T1 served as normal healthy, while goats from T2, T3, T4,
and T5 were helminthes infested. The goats from the T2 were infested and
received no treatment. However, the goats from the T3, and T4 received the daily
treatment of the aq. seed extract (10gm/day/animal) and seed oil (4ml/day/animal)
of B. nigra respectively. While, the T5 group received the standard reference drug
Albendazole at the single dose of 5-7.5 mg/kg body wt . The blood was collected
on the 0th, 7th and 11th day for biochemical and haematological studies.
The in vivo anthelmintic trials indicated that the EPG of faecal samples
from the groups T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 on 0 th day were 25042.81, 1883.347.72,
1933.3333.33, 2033.3355.77 and 2016.6654.26 respectively. Whereas and on
the 10th day the EPG of the T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 were 283.3330.73,
265022.36, 183.3316.66, 366.6621.08 and 116.6616.66 respectively. It was
observed that up to the 10th day of the treatment with the Albendazole at the
single dose of 5-7.5mg/kg bd wt exhibited the appreciable antihelmintic effect

and the magnitude of the effect was significantly greater than that of the aqueous
seed extract (10gm/day/animal) and seed oil (4ml/day/animal) of B. nigra.
However, the anthelmintic effect of the aqueous seed extract was observed to be
significantly higher than that of seed oil of B. nigra. The studies reveals that both
the aqueous seed extract and seed oil of B. nigra bears the good anthelmintic
properties. The phytochemical analysis of aqueous seeds extract of B. nigra
revealed the presence of sterols, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, glycosides,
flavonoids, resin and reducing sugar.
The daily treatment with the aqueous seed extract (10gm/day/animal) and
the aqueous seed oil (4ml/day/animal) of B. nigra for ten days and the standard
drug Albendazole at the single dose 5-7.5mg/kg bd wt was found to significantly
increase the serum glucose, serum total proteins, serum albumin and serum
globulin levels of the heavily helminth infested goats.
There was significant increase in the level of the haemoglobine and the
total erythrocyte counts of the helminth infested goats from the groups T3, T4 and
T5 with the treatment of aqueous seed extract (10gm/day/animal) and seed oil
(4ml/day/animal) of B. nigra. and Albendazole at the single dose of 5-7.5 mg/kg
body wt . These treatments also prevented further increase in the neutrophils,
eosinophils, lymphocyte and monocyte counts of the helminth infested goats.