Date of Submission

Spring 2022

Academic Program

Biology

Project Advisor 1

Brooke Jude

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Anthelmintic resistance is becoming an ever growing problem in livestock around the world due to limited anthelmintic availability and an increased abundance of resistant parasites. Contributions to anthelmintic resistance are linked to the overuse of anthelmintics and parasites prone to developing resistance such as Haemonchus contortus, commonly known as the Barber Pole worm (Delano 2002). Primarily affecting small ruminants such as sheep and goats, populations of H. contortus has been found to have resistance to most commonly used anthelmintics such as ivermectin and monepantel (Kotze, 2016) creating a need to make affordable and novel anthelmintics to combat this problem. Condensed tannins from plant sources have been found to have significant anthelmintic effects against a variety of gastrointestinal parasites making it a strong candidate as a source for future anthelmintics(Štrbac, 2022; Williams, 2014; Jansman, 1993). Nigella sativa, or black cumin seed, is a plant endemic to North America, the Mediterranean, India, and the Middle East that has shown evidence of medicinal properties used locally for many years and has a high concentration of condensed tannins (Emine , 2021; Yimer, 2019; Saleh, 1992). The seed oil extract from N. sativa has revealed anthelmintic properties against nematode parasites (Emine, 2021) making it a good candidate to be tested in regards to its anthelmintic capacity against Haemonchus contortus. Using samples acquired from infected sheep in the Hudson Valley in New York, an egg hatch assay (EHA) was performed testing variable concentrations of Nigella sativa oil against unidentified nematode parasite eggs. A significant effect was observed across concentrations of N. sativa oil (F=257.63, P=8.958 x 10-12) and between negative controls (P=0.001006). This provides a beginning point for future research to take place investigating the anthelmintic potential of Nigella sativa against nematode parasites including Haemonchus contortus.

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On-Campus only

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