A.K. Pathak

Division of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences & AH, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, R. S. Pura, Jammu-181102, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Veterinary Research, 2013, Vol. 3, No. 8   doi: 10.5376/ijmvr.2013.03.0008
Received: 14 Jun., 2013    Accepted: 16 Jul., 2013    Published: 05 Dec., 2013

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A.K. Pathak, 2013, Potential of Using Condensed Tannins to Control Gastrointestinal Nematodes and Improve Small Ruminant Performance, Vol.3, No.8 36-50 (doi: 10.5376/ijmvr.2013.03.0008)

Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections are characteristic of pastoral grazing systems and many GIN species have developed resistance to anthelmintic drugs. Infestation with internal parasites causes significant production losses. Use of phyto-chemicals (condensed tannins; CT) is becoming preferable and may offer better control than anthelmintics to treat GINs. Dietary supplementation of CT through tropical tanniferous tree leaves/ leaf meal mixture (LMM) at low to moderate level (1~2% of DMI) was found to be effective against different developmental stages (eggs, larvae and adult) of GIN and decreased GI parasitic load in ruminants. CT supplementation also improved nutrient utilization, productive performance, antioxidant status and immunological (both cell mediated and humoral immune) response in small ruminants. Therefore, CT supplementation in the diets of small ruminants may act as natural dewormer without having any residual effect in animal products which is the need of our consumers.

Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN); Condensed tannins; Small ruminant