Gastrointestinal tract nematodes are responsible for wide range of health problems,
economic losses in goats and are characterized by impaired milk production, meat process,
decreased fertility, low kidding rates, decreased working efficiency and even death of the goats.
Gastrointestinal tract nematodes cause economic losses via morbidity and negative effects on
feed intake, nutrient utilization efficacy and also reduce young animal’s growth rate as a result,
leading to decreased productivity and performance of the infected animal. Due to such economic
losses, the control of the helminths is unavoidable which is also possible by herbal products such
as Ginger. Ginger has pharmacological and gastrointestinal prokinetic activities to cure
constipation, indigestion, vomiting, infectious diseases and helminthiasis. In the current study,
anthelmintic activity of Ginger has been tested against gastrointestinal nematodes of goats.
For therapeutic trials, a total of 75 goats positive for nematodes having EPG >150 were
selected randomly and divided into three groups named as Group A, B and C, each group
comprising of 25 animals. The goats of Group A were orally treated with crude powder of ginger
(Zingiber officinale) @ 3 gram/kg body weight, orally. Goats in group B served as positive
control (infected and treated with Oxfendazole). Group C comprised of positive animals which
were not treated during whole the experiment. The fecal samples were collected at day 14 (Posttreatment).
Drug’s efficacy was assessed on the Fecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT) and
was calculated by following formula (Traversa et al. 2007).
[((Pre-treatment EPG – Post-treatment EPG)) / Pre-treatment EPG] × 100
SUMMARY
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Data regarding therapeutic trails were analyzed by repeated measures one-way ANOVA, using
SPSS version 20.0, p< 0.05 was considered as significant. Trial was analyzed under different
parameters.
Ginger has shown good anthelmintic activity against gastrointestinal nematodes in goats
as evident from 63% reduction in EPG. It is suggested hereby to conduct a dose trial for the use
of ginger against nematodes in goats by using different dose levels including at least 5 different
groups of dosages like 3gram; 3.5grams; 4grams; 4.5grams and 5grams per Kg body weight. The
current study has highlighted the anthelmintic activity of ginger (Zingiber officinale) against
gastrointestinal nematodes in goats. More trials using this herbal product in other animals will
further highlight the importance of using this commonly-available and economical herbal
product in the control of gastrointestinal nematodes in livestock.