Title code: IJSAT/ 101002 Use this code for further enquiry and online searching 8 Int. J. Sustain. Agril. Tech. 6(10): 08-12, October 2010 An online Journal of “G-Science Implementation and Publication”, website: www.gurpukur.com or www.gscience.net EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT ANTHELMINTIC PREPARATIONS AGAINST GASTROINTESTINAL PARASITIC INFESTATION IN SHEEP A. KHAIR 1 , M. B. UDDIN 2* , M. M. HOSSAIN 2 , M. A. MAMUN 3 and M. SD. ISLAM 4 1 Veterinarian, FAO of the United Nations, Bangladesh, 2 Department of Medicine and Surgery, 3 Department of Pathology and Parasitology, 4 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh. *Corresponding author’s E-mail: bashir_vet@yahoo.com. ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of six different commercial anthelmintics preparations against naturally occurring gastrointestinal parasitic infestation in sheep was conducted from July to August, 2006 in the Veterinary clinics in collaboration with Department of Medicine, Department of Parasitology, Department of Pharmacology and Department of Physiology of of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated through determination of parasitological, body weight gain and haematological findings. The study involved a total of 35 sheep of which naturally infected by parasite. Infected sheep were blood and faecal sampled on day 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 of study. Pre and post-treatment EPG (eggs per gram) values were recorded and efficacies compared. Results showed that a combination of triclabendazole and levamisole (Endex ® ) in oral form gave the overall highest (p<0.01 and p<0.05) curative rate against the parasites (Strongyles spp., Paramphistomum spp. and Bunustomum spp.) studied. Keywords: Sheep, Triclabendazole and Levamisole, Gastrointestinal parasite and Efficacy. INTRODUCTION It is established that helminth infestation continues to be one of the major problems facing sheep husbandry. Trematodes infestation (fascioliasis, paramphistomiasis and schistosomiasis) and nematodiasis (different gastrointestinal nematodes and lung worm) are most important disease of sheep in Bangladesh (Alam et al., 1994; Anwar et al., 1993; Azad et al., 1997; Haque and Samad, 1997; Shahiduzzaman et al., 1999 and Samad, 2001). Therefore, protective treatment with routine dosing of anthelmintics would be the choice to control gastrointestinal helminthes in sheep (Rob, 2004). A large number of drugs are available in the local market of Bangladesh (Islam and Islam, 2004), used by the field veterinarians. Among these combinations of triclabendazole and levamisole produced by different companies are widely in use but there is no established report on the efficacy of the different combined preparations on GI parasites in sheep. It is necessary to evaluate the efficacy of the anthelmintics, their effect on body status and detection of the efficacy of the resistance in animals. Under these circumstances, the present study was conducted to evaluate the comparative efficacy of different combined preparation of triclabendazole and levamisole against gastrointestinal (GI) parasites and to study the influence of these combined preparations on body weight gain and on some hematological parameters in sheep. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was conducted in the Veterinary Clinics from in collaboration with Department of Medicine, Department of Parasitology, Department of Pharmacology and Department of Physiology of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, Bangladesh from July to August, 2006. Thirty five (35) sheep with naturally acquired gastro-intestinal helminth infestations were selected in the veterinary clinics of BAU. The selected animals were tagged and randomly grouped in to seven groups (G 0, G 1, G 2, G 3, G 4, G 5 and G 6 ) of five animals each. All the sheep were fed with balanced rations which were composed of roughages and concentrates. They were on an average of 2.5 years of age, detected by dentition (Banerjee, 1998). Fecal samples (pre-treatment) were collected from all of the animals in the different treatment groups (day 0) followed immediately by administration of anthelmintic drugs. A total of 6 types bolus (Trilev-vet ® , Levex ® , Lolyzole LTs ® , Endex ® , Antiworm ® and Lolyzole LT ® ) of 5 different companies of Bangladesh were collected from market. The dosages