A comparative study of the efficacy of piperazine and Carica papaya for the control of helminth parasites in village chickens in Zambia
Date
2009-08-12
Authors
Phiri, Andrew M
Chota, Amos
Sikasunge, Chummy Sikalizyo
Musukwa, Martha N.
Haazele, Felix
Phiri, Isaac K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Science
Abstract
Village chickens play vital roles in the livelihoods of
those people keeping them. Backyard poultry provide
a critical source of food and income for people in
developing countries (Lans et al. 2007) and so is the
case in Zambia. However, their productivity has been
hampered by many constraints resulting in low flock
sizes (Kusina and Kusina 1999). Among the constraints
is the problem of external and internal
parasites (Abebe et al. 1997). In Africa, the control
of these parasites is limited by the high cost of
anthelmintics, their uncertain availability and the
increasing frequency of drug resistance (Naidoo et
al. 2008). Therefore, possible alternatives such as the
use of plant products that function by mechanisms
other than those of chemotherapeutics, with the
additional advantage of a natural origin have been
recommended (Naidoo et al. 2008). Besides, the cost
of treatment with alternative traditional methods
(herbs) is negligible when compared with the cost of
conventional medicines. In addition to being very
inexpensive, herbal preparations have good medicinal
value (Mbaria et al. 1998).
Therefore, in a quest for provision of safe animal
products, a number of studies on use of herbal therapy
especially in poultry, have been conducted many of
which have reported a number of herbal products that
are of potential use as therapeutic or prophylactic
agents against bacteria (Arshad et al. 2008), protozoa
(Nweze and Obiwulu 2009; Naidoo et al. 2008;
Arshad et al. 2008) and viruses (Kong et al. 2006).
However, only a few herbal products (Lans et al.
2007; Purwati and He 1991) have been reported to be
potential antihelmintic agents in poultry.
The objective of the current study was to compare
the efficacy of Carica papaya latex with that of
piperazine in the control of nematode parasites in
village chickens as well as assess the effect of
treatment on productivity (weight gain).
Description
Journal article
Keywords
Carica papaya , Chicken , Helminths , Herbal therapy , Piperazine