Managing internal parasites of small ruminants using medicinal plants a review on alternative remedies, efficacy evaluation techniques and conservational strategies

Abstract

Throughout the world, internal parasites are a major hindrance to small ruminant production. The most common internal parasites in grazing small ruminants are likely to be gastrointestinal nematodes. They cause a reduction in live-weight gain, wool growth, poor reproductive performance, and increased production costs and thus hamper global food security. Pharmaceutical control continues to be the main measure used to manage or control internal parasites, however as the resistance of internal parasite populations spreads, the efficiency of this method in resource-limited environments becomes limited and complex. Efforts to curb production losses caused by internal parasites have led communal farmers to use other treatments such as locally available indigenous medicinal plants to control internal parasites as an alternative to pharmaceuticals. However, many medicinal plants still need to be evaluated for their efficacy and efficiency using both in vitro as well as in vivo methods. Furthermore, in many developing countries, the use of these plants is not well documented nor they are guided by certain rules and regulations to conserve them. Therefore, the objective of this review was to document various remedies prepared from medicinal plants to manage internal parasites in small ruminants. A further objective was to evaluate techniques used to determine the safety and efficacy of these plants and to suggest possible strategies to conserve such useful plants and the knowledge associated with them.