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The anthelminthic efficacy of the crude aqueous extract of Acanthus montanus (Nees) T. Anders (Acanthaceae) against strongylid nematodes of small ruminants was investigated using the in-vitro egg hatch and larval growth inhibition assays. Faecal samples collected per rectum from sheep and goats were subjected to parasitological examination using the McMaster counting technique with a yield of 700 eggs per gram (E.P.G.) of faeces. Crude aqueous leaf extract of Acanthus montanus was extracted using cold water extraction with a yield of 13.01% w/w. Egg hatch assay revealed a 91.75% reduction in egg hatch at concentration of 25 mg/ml of the extract. The extract had a 100% inhibition, at 200mg/ml concentration which was equivalent to the activity of 3.125 mg/ml albendazole. The distilled water control however, showed a 0% inhibition. Larval growth inhibition assay results showed the extract on Day 1 at 25 mg/ml and 200mg/ml concentrations yielded 67.02% and 85.26% larval inhibition. On Day 2, 100% inhibition was obtained on all concentrations of the extract except for 25 mg/ml that yielded 88.30%. Albendazole however, had a 100% larval inhibition for all concentrations on Day 2. A 100% larval inhibition was recorded on Day 3 from the 25 mg/ml concentrations. The mean percentage larval inhibition of the extract at 200mg/ml (92.63%) was comparable to the standard anthelminthic (albendazole) at 12.50mg/ml (92.28%). These findings showed that there is a pharmacological basis for the folkloric claim of the anthelminthic effect of Acanthus montanus.

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Experiments to determine the effect of seed size, watering interval and defoliation on growth and dry matter attributes of seedlings of shea butter tree were conducted at Makurdi, Nigeria, from July 2010 to April, 2012. In the first experiment, treatments were made up of three seed size categories described as small (5-10g), medium (11-15g) and large (16-20g) and three watering intervals of 3, 6 and 9 days. In the second experiment, treatments comprised three watering intervals of 3, 6 and 9 days and three levels of defoliation -0, 50 and 100%. In both experiments, factorial combinations of the treatments were laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) and replicated three times. Results of analysis of variance showed that in the first experiment seed size significantly influenced root length with the medium and large seeds producing seedlings with comparatively longer roots than the small seeds. The most frequently watered seedlings (3 and 6 days) produced more leaves than those watered less frequently (9 days). Seed size influenced dry weight of root and total (whole plant) dry weight with the medium and large seeds recording significantly higher values than the small seeds. Watering interval however did not significantly influence any of the other traits. Seed weight exerted significant influence on amount of dry matter partitioned to the stem and the root. More dry matter was partitioned to the stem by the small seeds. Conversely, medium and large seeds allocated more dry matter to the root than to the stem. In the second experiment, defoliation level only influenced total fresh weight, dry weight of root and total dry weight in favour of plants with half their leaves removed. None of the traits examined were significantly influenced by watering regime. Interaction between defoliation level and watering regime significantly influenced total fresh weight, dry weight of root and total dry weight. Generally seed size had more influence on seedling characters than watering interval. Seedlings also demonstrated remarkable ability to overcome effects of defoliation.

Coccidiosis poses a serious threat to the poultry industry globally due to the great economic losses. The development of resistance strains to the available synthetic drugs is another major issue. Consequently, a study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of methanolic leaf extract and leaf powder of Adansonia digitata (baobab tree or monkey- bread tree), in feed to treat coccidiosis. In treated groups oocysts output reduced from + 10 per microscopic field (mf) to + 1 but remained high (+ 10) in control group. Feed consumption, weigh gain, feed conversion ratio, Packed cell volume, serum total protein and red blood cell were significantly (P < 0.05) high in treated groups but low in the untreated group from infection (from 24 day old) to end of observation (56 day old). However, the value of WBC (2.28×1012/l) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in negative group than treated groups from infection (24 day old) to the end (56 day old) of the experiment. Ballooned caeca, haemorrhagic intestinal mucosa, thickened intestinal wall, blood clots in the intestinal lumen and pin point haemorrhages in the intestine of the untreated group were observed. No gross lesions were noticeable in treated groups except the group treated with leaf powder, which revealed thickening of intestinal wall. Methanolic leaf extract and powder of the plant proved effective against broiler coccidiosis and can enhance performance.

Background: African Animal Trypanosomosis is one of the key hindrances to full livestock development in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa, despite years of efforts to eradicate the disease. It is an important parasitic disease of human and animals. Control of the disease relies majorly on chemotherapy of one of the three trypanocidal drugs. The severity of haematological indices depends on parasite species, host involved and nutrition. Hence, there is need to assess the pathogenicity and compare their effects on some of our local breeds of livestock. Methodology: Field isolates Trypanosoma vivax and Trypanosoma congolense of Nigerian origin were used. Thirty sheep were acquired and preconditioned for two weeks in arthropod- proofed pens before the commencement of the experiment. The sheep were divided into five groups (A- T. vivax infected-treated, B- T. vivax infected-untreated, C- No infection, no treatment, E- T. congolense infected-treated and F- T. congolense infected-untreated. Packed Cell Volume, serum protein, WBC, DLC were monitored weekly for 8 weeks. Results: There was gradual decreased in PCV of all the infected animals which was an indication of anaemia but more severe in T. vivax groups. Also decreased in plasma protein that was more pronounced and prolonged in T. vivax than the T. congolense groups, this was similar with WBC. Neutrophils had initial increased in all the groups before dropping and low value of monocyte at the early period of infections which later disappeared. There was no basophil seen in all the T.vivax groups but few were observed in T. congolense groups.   Conclusion: Anaemia is a general feature of most parasitic infections especially in trypanosomosis. Trypanosoma vivax used in this study is more pathogenic than the T. congolense, hence may have more negative effects in sheep production in author’s environment.

The present study was conducted to assess the molecular discrimination of field isolates of Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma vivax of Nigeria origin in vitro (PCR) whether there will be genetic alteration of the parasites as the infections of the isolates in Yankasa sheep progresses from acute through relapses to chronic stages. A total of thirty Yankasa sheep were acquired from Kastina State in the northern part of Nigeria, screened for haemo-, ecto-and endo-parasites, treated against anaplasmosis, coccidiosis and conditioned in arthropod-free pens for two weeks. They were randomly divided into five groups of six animals each. Two groups each were infected intravenously with approximately 2.0×10 6 of T. vivax and T. congolense. One group served as uninfected control. A group each from T. vivax-infected and T. congolense-infected groups were treated with trypanocide 6 days post parasitaemia. The other infected groups were left untreated. The animals were monitored for 8 weeks post infection (pi). Incubation period of 6 days was recorded for both parasite species. Multiplex primers polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and T. vivax species-specific PCR confirmed that the isolates used were T. congolense and T. vivax at molecular band sizes of 750 and 175 bp, respectively. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR showed that the band sizes associated with the chronic form of the infection of T. congolense differed from those of the acute and relapse forms, whereas the band weights of the relapse form of the T. vivax differed from those of acute and chronic forms. Molecular characterization of T. vivax and T. congolense revealed differences through the variations in band weights of the parasites derivatives in the acute, chronic and relapse infections and this may translate into differences in antigenicity.