MATERIAL AND METHODS 1 Herbal infusions

Prairie sagewort (Artemisia frigida) forage plant commonly grown in prairie-steppe and semi desert zones and tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), perennial herb in the compositea family commonly grown in mountain forest-steppe zone in Mongolia were collected from the Centre (Terelj and Nalaikh region of Ulaanbaatar city) and Northern (Tushig county of Selenge province) parts of Mongolia. Air-dried plants samples and garlic cloves (bulbs) were prepared for infusions according to general pharmaceutical procedures [4]. Thirty (30) g of each plant material were ground to powder form and extracted by maceration with 100 ml of boiling distilled water for 2 h. Thereafter the moisture was cool down to 4⁰C and then filtered [2, 4, 19].

2.2 Animals and experimental design:

The study was carried out at the small ruminant farm of Taryalan soum county of Khuvsgul aimag province, 450 km from Ulaanbaatar city. The soum is located in mountain forest-steppe of Mongolian vegetation zones predominantly covered with herbaceous plants and the richest diversity of vegetation in Mongolia [4, 19].

Twenty-five local Mongolian sheep averaged weight 15+5.5 and aged between 4-15 months, naturally infected with Nematodirus oiratianus and Haemonchus contortus.

Based on live weights, 25 sheep were allocated into three treatment grops and two control groups (5 sheep to each). Herbal extractants (treatment) were administrated to each group at 100 ml per animal three times daily by 12-hour interval [8, 18].

The treatments are as follows;

T1 – Prairie sagewort T2 – Tansy

T3 – Garlic

C1 – treated with Almonzol (10% Albendazole suspension, at the rate of 1ml/10 kg of body weight)

C2 – remained as negative control.

Before administration of the infusions and anthelmintic, and thereafter 2, 3 and 5 day post infusion fresh rectal faecal samples were collected and examined microscopically to determine the number of egg per gram (EPG) and presence of N.

oiratianus and H.contortus ova. Counting was done by using flotation fluids (salt and sugar) by McMaster technique (www.FECPAK.com).

3. RESULTS

3.1 Faecal egg count

On the basis of morphological characters of the ova, Nematodirus oiratianus and Haemonchus contortus were detected in ovine faecal samples (Table I). All sheep were infected with both parasites and 143-152 eggs of N.oiratianus and 39-46 eggs of H.contortus were detected in a gram of faecal samples. The results suggest that sheep were heavily infected with N. oiratianus than H.contortus.

TABLE 1. EGG COUNTS OF HELMINTHES AS ARESPONSE TO TREATMENTS Identification of egg types and EPG

Treatments

Nematodirus oiratianus Haemonchus contortus

T1 143 41

T2 146 39

T3 151 45

C1 149 41

C2 152 46

3.2 The reduction of EPG of N. oiratianus

Faecal egg count of all sheep checked was lower than the negative control. The efficiency of infusions when expressed as the percentage reduction of EPG of N.

oiratianus was 13.3% by prairie sagewort, 15.8% – by tansy and 11.3% - by garlic. These values were much lower than Albendazole 10% suspension, which was active against N.

oiratianus (94%) and H. contortus (90.25%).

0

FIG. 1. Mean value of reduction EPG of N.oiratianus.

3.3 The reduction of EPG of H. Contortus

Number of EPG of H. contortus was reduced by 22.0, 20.5 and 17.8%, by prairie sagewort, tansy and garlic, respectively in 5 days post infusion. While, infection of sheep with N.oiratianus and H.contortus from the untreated (control) group were 97.8-100%.

0

FIG. 2. Mean value of reduction EPG of H.contortus.

The results of the present trial indicated that administration of Prairie sagewort (Artemisia frigida), tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) and garlic (Allium sativum) infusions to sheep could reduce N. oiratianus and H.contortus egg shedding by 11.3-22.0%. There are limited options available for the herbal treatment of helminth infections.

Fresh leaves and bulbs of garlic mixed with molasses and bran for treatment of Ascaris and Enterobios spp. infection and lungworms (Bastidas, 1969), dried and crushed flower of Wormwood (Artemesia vulgaris) - for Prostrongylus, Dictyocaulus and Bunostomum spp. (De Bairacli Levy, 1973), Artemisia herba-alba – for caprine Haemonchus contortus (Idris et al., 1982) and fresh tansy leaves and flowers (Tanacetum vulgare) - for Nematodirus spp. (Papchenkov, 1968) were successfully used. Enkhjargal (unpublished data, 1990) found the negative effects of using 10% extract of Prairie sagewort on helminthes eggs, but 30% extract reduced EPG by 25.2%. In this study, we used only 30% herb infusions as well, it is important to conduct further research on preparation of various pharmaceutical types with above plants and investigate and confirm the antihelminthic effects in wider areas. Study on the mode of action of above plant extracts on anthelminthes is importent to investigate in the future. .

4. CONCLUSION

Administration of 30% of Prairie sagewort (Artemisia frigida), tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) and garlic (Allium sativum) infusions to sheep reduced N.oiratianus and H.contortus egg shedding 11.3 to 22.0%.

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EFFECTS OF MULTI-NUTRIENT FEED SUPPLEMENT IN BEEF