The compounds identified in the FGC- E-Nose are shown in Fig 1. In total, 104 volatile compounds were identified, but acetaldehyde, 2-propanol, 1-propanol, octane, cyclohexane, (Z)-2-octenal, citronellal, 4-vinylguaiacol, trans-2-undecenal, butane, 2,3-pentadenione, isopropyl acetate, butyl ether, anethole, sabinene and (Z) whiskey lactone were in higher concentration.
Significant (P<0.05) reduction in fecal egg counts were noticed in ewes treated with Peptasan, the herbal extract decreases a nematode count than in ewes treated with Doramectin, on days 21 and 28. No change in fecal egg counts was noticed in control groups. The predominant nematode species were strongyles (
Trichostrongylus, Haemonchus, Oesophagostomum). Higher fecal egg counts resulted in reduced daily gain, decreased intake and impaired feed efficiency (Table 2).
(Gonzalez-Garduno et al., 2014) found that in grazing conditions the
H. contortus and
C. curticei are the most common gastrointestinal nematodes in tropical areas of Mexico, peptasan showed an anthelmintic effect against these parasites. In previous study, extracts with saponins (12.8-13.2%) and phenolic compounds also reduced nematode FEC but a lesser degree (up to 54%)
(Mejia et al., 2014). Similar to the present observation the maximum reduction (97.41%) in FEC in sheep naturally infected with paramphistomes was observed on day 21 after treatment with 20 mg/ ml
Acacia concinna extract
(Priya et al., 2013).
Plants natural products and essential oil components such as citronellal, linalool, thymol, carvone, anethole, cinnamaldehyde, sabinene, terpenes and phenylpropenes have been shown to have a significant potential for helminth
(Barros et al., 2009; El-Bahy and Bazh, 2015; Kaitiki et al., 2017) and insect
(Dambolena et al., 2016) control. Nonetheless, owing to difference in the techniques used by different researchers and diverse chemical structure of natural compounds, collation of the effects for the evaluated compounds is difficult, which in turn causes difficult to ascribe their activities to a specific chemical compound. One of the principal VOCs in the herbal product is the [Z] whiskey lactone, which can attack the larval stages of important parasites of sheep and cattle
in vitro. Doramectin is a broad-spectrum macrocyclic lactone belonging to the ivermectin class; though, crucial in combating nematode parasites in sheep, persistence of drug in tissues up to 28 days post-treatment and withdrawal period limit its usage
(Perez et al., 2008). Further, the resistance of nematodes to macrocyclic lactones has become a serious challenge to the effective control of nematodes in small ruminants
(Borges et al., 2015). Doramectin enter the environment through feces of the treated animals and evaluations of the long-term impacts are required
(Beynon, 2012).
The effect of anthelmintic treatment on body weight of sheep has been studied by various workers. Treatment with benzimidazoles and macrocyclic lactones
(Perez et al., 2008; Miller et al., 2012) and herbal products
(Grade et al., 2008; Junkuszew et al., 2015) significantly reduced the parasites and significantly increased lamb body weight compared to the parasitized group in accordance to the present study. Drug residues and resistance are the major constraints for the use of chemical therapeutic agents such as benzimidazoles and macrocyclic lactones. The addition of thyme essential oils in Japanese quail feed ration increased live body weight and improved gut microflora
(Khaksar et al., 2012). The beneficial effects are attributed to active constituents, anethole.
The
in vitro gas production indicated that herbal plant additive has a mean ruminal degradation of 16.6 hours (Table 3).
In vitro gas production parameters indicated that herbal Peptasan saponins could be acting in the rumen and the lower tract against different parasites. None of the parameters of
in vitro gas production (Table 3) appeared to indicate that saponins in the herbal product negatively affected ruminal fermentation and they showed kinetic parameters similar to or greater than three browse species containing tannins and other compounds that consumed by small ruminants
(Camacho et al., 2010). (Stewart et al., 2015) evaluated gas
in vitro production characteristics of J
uniperus pinchotii, J
. monosperma, J. ashei and
J. virginiana and found that the concentrations of secondary plant compounds should not cause adverse effects on digestibility or
in vitro parameters. VOCs from peptasan could improve animal performance, health, metabolism, end products and rumen microbial function
(Min et al., 2012).
Secondary compounds have different effects on rumen fermentation; they reduce rumen protozoa and increase microbial protein synthesis
(Patra and Saxena, 2011),
(Wang et al., 2011) reported that saponins could increase VFA production and proportion of propionic acid and reduced ammonia concentration in agreement with
(Jafari et al., 2020) who found that polyphenols decrease the ruminal ratio of acetic/propionic. Saponins in the herbal product could have had this type of stimulatory effect and this may partly explain the superior daily gains and feed conversions observed in lambs receiving the herbal product. Studies conducted with
Acacia concinna extracts confirm that this plant reduces ruminal methane production without adversely affect
in vitro dry matter digestibly
(Bunglavan et al., 2010).
