Valorization of biomolecules: Natural alternative against nematodes

The present work aims to evaluate the activity of essential oils as well as aqueous and ethanolic extracts of leaves and flowers of P. graveolens, in comparison with a reference anthelmintic Albendazole, against the gastrointestinal parasite of sheep H. contortus. To our knowledge, this is the first report of anthelmintic activity of P. graveolens. The tests conducted in the present work showed that the essential oil of P. graveolens possesses both ovicidal and adulticidal action against H. contortus (IC50= 2.46 and 2.87 mg/mL, respectively). In addition, the ethanolic extracts of the flowers and leaves showed greater ovicidal and adulticidal anthelmintic activity than the aqueous extracts of the tested plant for all concentrations tested (p<0.05). For flowers, the ethanolic extract induced the mortality of 95.83% of adult worms after 8 hours of exposure at the highest concentration tested (4 mg/ml) while at the same concentration, the aqueous extract induced only the mortality of 79.16%. For leaves, the ethanolic extract showed the highest anthelmintic efficacy (87.5%).