Eficácia anti-helmíntica da Operculina hamiltonii (G. Don) D. F. Austin & Staples (1983) e Cucurbita pepo L. sobre helmintos gastrintestinais de galinhas caipiras, Gallus domesticus.

Abstract

Poultry alternative of creating chickens has gained national prominence on the basis of products with distinctive features such as a tastier meat and egg yolk hue and red, this combined with the high demand of the consumer markets for natural foods and healthy free of chemical residues. The production systems used in the creations of chickens systems are extensive or semi-extensive, where the birds have access to land, creating favorable conditions for the development of parasites, especially endoparasitoses, increasing the parasitic load and the number the birds are in herds when compared with conventional breeding, this in turn creates serious problems in birds, causing huge economic losses due to growth retardation, poor feed conversion, decreased egg production and increased susceptibility to diseases. Among the many forms of treatment against parasites, the use of plants of "folk medicine" reduces the residues in foods, contributing to the increase in profits of creation. The experiment was conducted at Farm Menino Jesus of Praga and in the laboratory of Parasitology of the Clinical Center of Health Sciences, Paraiba Federal University and Entomology of the Zoonosis Control Center, all in the city of João Pessoa – PB. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anthelmintic effectiveness of Operculina hamiltonii (G. DON) D. F. Austin & Staples (1983) and Cucurbita pepo L., on gastrointestinal helminth infections of chickens, Gallus domesticus. Fifty chickens were used Plymouth Rock Barrada and New Hampshire with parasitological natural infection, and those collected at the faeces for laboratory tests. The birds received shares of botanical plants and the complete thirty days of treatment, four birds were sacrificed and necropsied. Laboratory tests showed no ovicidal and larvicidal activity of botanical shares of the plants studied. The use of Operculina hamiltonii (G. DON) D. F. Austin & Staples (1983) and Cucurbita pepo L. did not prove viable alternatives in the control of parasites of chickens.