Efficacy of Naturally Occurring Anthelmintics in Fruit By-Products to Control Intestinal Parasites in Small Ruminants

Project Overview

GNC12-161
Project Type: Graduate Student
Funds awarded in 2012: $9,900.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2014
Grant Recipient: The Ohio State University
Region: North Central
State: Ohio
Graduate Student:
Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Maurice Eastridge
The Ohio State University

Annual Reports

Information Products

Commodities

  • Fruits: grapes
  • Animals: sheep

Practices

  • Animal Production: feed additives, parasite control, preventive practices
  • Education and Training: extension
  • Farm Business Management: value added
  • Pest Management: botanical pesticides
  • Production Systems: holistic management, organic agriculture

    Proposal abstract:

    There is a critical need to identify natural anthelmintics for food animal production because of the increased resistance of intestinal parasites to commercial anthelmintics, and the inability to use commercial anthelmintics for certified organic food production. To address this issue, the proposed research involves the extraction of potentially anti-parasitic bioactive compounds (e.g. tannins and polyphenols) from by-products of the pomegranate and grape industries. The extracts will be concentrated and the sensitivity of typical parasites (e.g., Haemonchus contortus) in small ruminants will be determined. Parasite sensitivity studies will investigate effects of these extracts on parasite motility, larvae development, and egg hatchability. Fecal samples from cooperating organic and inorganic sheep producers will be evaluated. Effects on the viability of ruminal bacteria and protozoa in the presence of the extracts, as well as the effects on protein and fiber digestibility also will be determined. As part of the applicants PhD program, future studies will be conducted on the farms of animal producer collaborators to investigate efficacy of the most promising treatment combinations of extracts in a commercial farm setting. This project will have major impacts on improving health of small ruminants, reducing sole dependence on commercial drugs, reducing environmental risks by reducing plant wastes, and improving economic sustainability of fruit growers and animal producers.

    Project objectives from proposal:

    The purpose of this research project is to examine the naturally occurring anthelmintic properties of certain fruit by-product extracts against intestinal parasites in small ruminants, as well as to examine possible health benefits of these extracts. This project will support the PhD research project of the applicant. The short-term impacts of this research include improving animal health, thus reducing dependence on commercial drugs, reducing environmental risks by reducing plant wastes, and improving profitability for plant and animal industries, as well as small ruminant farmers. The overall hypothesis of this research is that certain by-products of the juicing industry, such as grape pomace and pomegranate rinds, will significantly reduce the amount of internal parasite burden in sheep. Assuming these natural anthelmintics show promise, the intermediate-term outcome is sharing of the most promising results with members of the sheep and goat industry. We also will use on farm research with small ruminant producer collaborators to help in examining the efficacy of the extracts by collecting fecal matter from their animals to test efficacy of the extracts against parasites present in sheep from organic and conventional farms. This will also allow us to have an intermediate-term outcome of holding field days at the farm research locations to allow producer education of project results. Our major long-term outcome is that if the fruit by-product extracts are effective, then they can be used on organic farms to help with parasitism and also be used on commercial farms in combination with anthelmintics to help in combating resistance of some of the chemical anthelmintics available. However, these long term objectives are beyond the scope of this proposal

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.