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Efficacy of albendazole and levamisole at different dose levels against Ascaridia galli. Chaddha Deepali, Agnihotri R.K., Katoch Rajesh Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSKHPKV, Palampur-176 062, India Abstract Different dose rates of albendazole (3.5 mg kg−1, 7 mg kg−1, b.w.) and levamisole (10 mg kg−1, 20 mg kg−1, 40 mg kg−1, b.w.) were evaluated against experimental infection of Ascaridia galli in poultry. Albendazole @ 14 mg kg−1 b.w. was found 100% effective in reducing the EPG and 100% effective in reducing the post-mortem worm count, respectively. Levamisole @ 10 mg kg−1, 20 mg kg−1, 40 mg kg−1 b.w. was found 100% effective in reducing the EPG and removing the matured worms at all three dose rates. Top | Introduction Ascaridia galli is one of the most common and highly pathogenic nematode of poultry in India. Several anthelmintics have been tried to control Ascaridia galli infection, however, information on the efficacy and dose rates of albendazole and levamisole is scanty. Different workers have reported varying doses of albendazole (Han et al., 1982; Jiang and Lee, 1984; Padmaja and Sathianesan, 1993) and levamisole (Jiang et al., 1984; Pankavich et al., 1973); Verma et al., 1991) to be effective against Ascaridia galli. The margin of profit in poultry industry is low using costly chemotherapeutic agents, hence got economic significance. Keeping in view the above facts, the study was planned to assess the minimum effective dose of the above mentioned drugs, as these compounds are easily available in the market. |
Top Materials and Methods Experimental birds A total of 56 one day old chickens were procured from the hatchery. They were maintained in the brooder with ad libitum supply of feed and water in parasite free condition. Infective dose of Ascaridia galli Fully mature A galli worms were collected from the intestines of naturally infected birds.d The culture was prepared according to the technique of Riedel (1951). The uteri containing fertile eggs were separated by teasing the gravid females. The eggs were separated and washed 5–6 times in distilled water before placing them in clean petri dishes at 30± 1°C for embryonation. These embryonated eggs were used for infecting the birds. Experimental infection The culture was mixed thoroughly to get a uniform suspension of eggs. Each bird was administered 500 infective eggs of Ascaridia galli, per os on the 10th day of age with help of a dropper. The birds were then divided in seven groups i.e. I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII of 8 birds each. After the appearance of Ascaridia galli eggs in the droppings of the infected birds (between 55–62 days post infection), the EPG of the pooled sample of each group was done thrice at weekly interval. Anthelmintic treatment The birds of group I, II and III were administered albendazole at the dose rate of 3.5 mg kg−1, 7 mg kg−1, 14 mg kg−1 b.w. respectively. The birds of group IV, V and VI were administered levamisole at the dose rate of 10 mg kg−1, 20 mg kg−1, 40 mg kg−1 b.w. respectively. Group VIII served as the infected untreated control. EPG of the pooled sample of each group was determined in the post treatment period for three weeks at weekly interval. The efficacy of each dose rate of both drugs in reducing the faecal egg counts was determined as per the method of Taylor et al. (1993):
On day 21 post-treatment, the birds were sacrificed and the worms were counted. The efficacy of the drug on the basis of PM worm count was evaluated as per the method of Soulsby (1982):
where AE = Anthelmintic efficacy
A = Number of parasites in infected untreated (control) birds
B = Number of parasites in treated birds Top Results and Discussion Albendazole @ 3.5 mg kg−1, 7 mg kg−1, 14 mg kg−1 b.w. was found to be 61.37%, 95.23% and 100% effective respectively in reducing the EPG of the infected birds (Table 1). The efficacy of the albendazole, at the above mentioned doses, in reducing the postmortem worm count was recorded to be 69.13%, 94.87% and 100% respectively (Table 2). The findings were almost similar to those of Han et al. (1982) who also reported albendazole @ 5–10 mg kg−1 b.w., in feed as 100% effective. However, Jiang and Lee (1984) reported a dose of 10–30 mg kg−1 b.w. of albendazole as 100% effective whereas Padmaja and Sathianeshan (1993) reported a very high dose of albendazole (50 mg kg−1) to be 100% effective against A galli. In this study, the dose rate of 7 mg kg−1 b.w. of albendazole was found to reduce the average EPG by 95.23 % and the postmortem worm burden by 94.87%. These observations provide a base for further studies to establish a minimum effective dose of albendazole in between 7 mg kg−1 and 14 mg kg−1 b.w. in birds against A. galli. In this experiment, two higher doses of levamisol (20 mg kg−1 and 40 mg kg−1 b.w.) were found 100% effective in reducing the faecal egg count and postmortem worm count (Table 1 and Table 2). However, levamisole at dose rate of 10 mg kg−1 b.w. was found 100% effective in reducing the EPG and removing the mature worms but 5 out of 8 birds showed immature worms on post mortem examination. These findings nearly corroborated with those of Jiang et al. (1984) who observed levamisole @ 20 mg kg−1 b.w. to be 100% effective against immature and mature Ascaridia galli, respectively. Verma et al. (1991) at the same dose rate (20 mg kg−1 b.w.) reported 92% and 96% efficacy against fourth larval stages and adults of A. galli, respectively. Pankavich et al. (1973) reported levamisole to be 98% and 100% effective @ 18 and 36 mg kg−1, respectively, in drinking water. A further higher dose of levamisole (40 mg kg−1 b.w. twice at weekly interval) was found to be 100% effective against A galli by Kuczynska et al. (1994).
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Amongst the three different doses of levamisole used in the present study, a minimum dose of 10 mg kg−1 b.w. was found 100% effective in reducing the EPG and removin the mature worms. However, next higher dose (20 mg kg−1 b.w.), used in the present trial, removed 100% immature worms. These findings also provide a scope for further studies to evaluate a minimum effective dose against immature worms in between 10 and 20 mg kg−1 b.w. |
Top Tables | Table 1: Efficacy of albendazole and levamisole in fowls experimentally infected with Ascaridia galli
| | Group | Dose (mg/kg) | Pre-treatment average EPG | Post treatment EPG and anthelmintic efficacy |
| | Day 7 | Day 14 | Day 21 | Average |
| | I | Albendazole | 3.5 | 1800 | EPG | 800 | 400 | 600 | 600 | | AE | 55.55 | 71.42 | 57.14 | 61.37 | | | | II | Albendazole | 7 | 22000 | EPG | 0 | 200 | 0 | 66.66 | | AE | 100.00 | 85.71 | 100.00 | 95.23 | | | | III | Albendazole | 14 | 1200 | EPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | AE | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | | | | IV | Levamisole | 10 | 2000 | EPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | AE | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | | V | Levamisole | 20 | 1400 | EPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | AE | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | | | | VI | Levamisole | 40 | 1800 | EPG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | AE | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | | VII | Control | – | 1400 | EPG | 1800 | 1400 | 1400 | 1533.3 | | AE | – | – | – | – | – | |
| | AE = anthelmintic efficiency in per cent. |
| | | Table 2: Effect of albendazole and levamisole on post mortem worm count in fowls experimentally infected with A. galli
| | Group | | Dose (mg kg−1 b.w.) | Average worm count | Range of worms | Anthelmintic efficacy (%) |
| | I | Albendazole | 3.5 | 6.75 ± 1.164 | 5–8 | 69.13 | | II | Albendazole | 7 | 1.12 ± 0.877 | 0–7 | 94.87 | | III | Albendazole | 14 | 0 | – | 100 | | IV | Levamisole | 10 | 0 | – | 100 | | V | Levamisole | 20 | 0 | – | 100 | | VI | Levamisole | 40 | 0 | – | 100 | | VII | Control | – | 21.87 ± 4.50 | 6–40 | – |
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| Acknowledgements The authors express their thanks to the Dean, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences for the facilities provided for the present investigation. Top References | | HanY., LiuD., LiP.V., HuangZ.G.1982.
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