Abstract

The two most commonly used medicinal plants as traditional healers were identified (Vernonia amygdalina and Leonotis nepetaefolia) and were tested for their effectiveness as antiparasitic drugs on the gastrointestinal parasites of goats in some sectors of Huye and Gisagara districts of Rwanda. A survey was conducted which revealed that 87.5% of the knowledge of veterinary traditional medicine is transmitted from generation to generation. The combination of V. amygdalina and L. nepetafolia is used at an average of 87.5% while V. amygdalina alone is used on the average of 66.7%. For the goats treated with the combination of V. amygdalina and L. nepetafolia(group 1), the mean prevalence of faecal shedding of strongyles’ eggs was 78%, while for those treated with L. nepetafolia alone (group 2) was 77.4% for pregnant goats and 86% for empty ones. For the fecal excretion of coccidial oocysts, the average prevalence was 73% for group 1 and 39% for group 2 whereas it was 13% for nematodirus. This investigation showed no influence of the sex or the age on the fecal egg excretion of Strongyle eggs and coccidia oocysts. The results showed that the single treatments were not effective in reducing the eggs in the faeces while the repeated treatments caused a considerable fall of level of faecal gastro-intestinal egg excretion of strongyle as from day 14.

Key words: Coccidian oocytsts, effectiveness, gastrointestinal helminthes, goats,Leonotis nepetaefolia, medicinal plants, Strongyle egg, Vernonia amygdalina.