Abstract
Artemisia plant genus, natural inhabitant of northern Punjab Pakistan, is well known for its anthelmintic properties; many Artemisia species have not been so far scientifically proved. The aim of this study was to assess in vitro anthelmintic activity of Artemisia indica and Artemisia roxburghiana against mixed infection of gastrointestinal nematodes in small ruminants. This study is first scientifically proven study on anthelmintic activity of A. indica and A. roxburghiana. Five different concentrations (50, 25, 12.5, 6.25 and 3.75 mg/mL) accompanied by negative control (PBS) and positive control (albendazole, 10%) were used to carry out the egg hatch inhibition assay, larval mortality assay and adult worm mortality assay. The Baermann technique was used first time in larval mortality assay and proved to be effective. The results revealed that methanolic extracts of both A. indica and A. roxburghiana, showed maximum anthelmintic activity at concentration of 50 mg/ml by egg hatch inhibition (85±21.2; 80±28.3), larvae mortality (18±2.8; 17±4.2) and adult worm mortality (8.5±2.1; 8±2.8) assays. However, at concentration of 50 mg/ml both plant extracts in comparison to albendazole showed statistically insignificant (p≤0.05) results. The A. indica showed higher anthelmintic activity at all concentrations as compared to A. roburghiana. It has been concluded both plants exhibit anthelmintic activity and further evaluation of these plants should be carried out to purify the active ingredients for anthelmintic activity. Moreover, the decoctions of these plants could be used to GINs after confirming anthelmintic properties through in vivo.