Antifasciolic efficacy of indigenous plant drugs: kalonji, shahterah and karanjwa in buffaloes.

A study was carried out to evaluate antifasciolic effect of powdered plant drugs including Kalonji (Nigella sativa seeds), Shahterah (Fumaria parviflora aerial parts) and Karanjwa (Caesulpinia crista seeds) in buffaloes. During the search for the infected animals, prevalence of fascioliasis in the random samples was 33.1 +/- 0.7% but in symptomatically suspected cases it came to be 64 +/- 3.2%. The drug trial results showed that all the three drugs possess significant efficacies against fascioliasis. Their highest doses tested produced highly significant (P<0.001) decrease in EPG counts on 15th days. Maximum antifasciolic efficacy, judged on the basis of % EPG count reduction was shown by Shahterah (93.2 +/- 0.5%) which was followed by Karanjwa (89.7 +/- 1.7%) and Kalonji (88.2 +/- 0.4%). No visible side effects were produced by any of these plant drugs. Single oral treatment with 25 mg/kg of Kalonji or 60 mg/kg of Shahterah and 40 mg/kg of Karanjwa exerts highly significant antifasciolic efficacies on the day 15 after treatment. From these data, it is conceivable that at these dosages the drugs are sufficiently potent and safe to treat fasciola infection in buffaloes. However, further chemical and pharmacological studies would decide the exact mechanism(s) of action, the active principles contained and the real worth of these indigenous drugs for the treatment of fascioliasis in the ruminants.