Comparative in vitro efficacy of kefir produced from camel, goat, ewe and cow milk on Haemonchus contortus

Abstract

One of the great challenges of veterinary parasitology is the search for alternative methods for controlling gastrointestinal parasites in small ruminants. Milk kefir is a traditional source of probiotic, with great therapeutic potential. The objective of this study was to investigate the anthelmintic effects of kefir on the abomasal nematode Haemonchus contortus from sheep. The study used camel, goat, ewe and cow milk as a starting material, to produce camel, goat, cow and ewe milk kefir. All kefirs showed a significant concentration-dependent effect on H. contortus egg hatching at all tested concentrations. The highest inhibition (100%) of eggs was observed with camel milk kefir at a concentration 0.125 mg/ml. In relation to the effect of kefirs on the survival of adult parasites, all kefirs induced concentration-dependent mortality in adults, with variable results. The complete mortality (100%) of adults of H. contortus occurred at concentrations in the range 0.25-2 mg/ml. The highest inhibition of motility (100%) of worms was observed after 8 h post exposure with camel milk kefir at 0.25 mg/ml. These findings indicate that kefir can be considered a potential tool to control haemonchosis in sheep. Further investigations are needed to assess the active molecules in kefir responsible for its anthelmintic properties and to investigate similar in vivo effects.

Anthelminthic Effect of Caprine Milk: A Systematic Review

“…In another work by [8] using caprine milk kefir, the results demonstrated substantial dosedependent ovicidal activity against H. contortus in vitro, with the highest inhibition of 88% and the lowest inhibition of 10% achieved at the concentrations of 0.25mg/ml and 0.03mg/ml, respectively, while no inhibition resulted at 0.015mg/ml. The ovicidal assay, well designed and under proper controls, utilised 4 different ruminant milks.…”

“…However, the anthelmintic mechanism remains at large with unsubstantiated propositions and only one study by [6] managed to determine the efficacy of different bovine milk components which led to the role of protein. Substantial dose-dependent caprine milk ovicidal and adulticidal activity against H. contortus in vitro, using caprine milk kefir have been demonstrated [8]. The relative efficacy of caprine milk kefir (fermented yoghurt like drink), compared to raw milk, may be attributable to its probiotic content, concentration of proteinacious and fatty component during fermentation [6] [19]- [20].…”

“…Animals also have been proven to be effective sources for medicine. For example, bovine and camel milk have shown considerable anthelmintic efficacy [6]- [8]. However, the anthelmintic mechanism of those milk is not known, but the roles of proteinaceous components [6] as well as lactoferrin [7] have been proposed.…”

Nematicidal Activity of Goat Milk in Caenorhabditis elegans

“…Alimi and collaborators proceeded with the use of camel milk kefir as a nematicide agent in the control of H. polygyrus in infected rats, managing to demonstrate high levels of enteropara-sites biological control. In these studies, was analyzed goat milk, but few animals' milks were used, which called our attention to verify how the nematicidal activity would present itself in a large group of animals [2,19]. Despite the mortality of C. elegans when exposed to the milk of Saanen goats were statistically higher in our analysis.…”

“…Alimi and collaborators carried out the main work evaluating the nematicidal activity of raw milk and kefir produced through samples of several ruminates. In those tests the parasitic nematodes Haemonchus contortus and Heligmosomoides polygyrus were used [1,19]. Of the milk's samples with nematicity activity tested, camel and goat were the ones that showed the best nematicidal activity, respectively.…”