Evaluation of Invitro anthelmintic activities of Brassica nigra, Ocimum basilicum and Rumex abyssinicus

Helminthes infections are now being recognized as the cause of many acute as well as chronic illnesses in human beings and in cattle, particularly in tropical and subtropical areas. The development of anthelmintic resistance and the high cost of conventional anthelmintic drugs led to evaluation of herbal remedies as alternative anthelmintic for the control of these parasites. In the current study, in vitro experiments were conducted to determine the possible anthelmintic effects of crude aqueous and methanolic extracts of Brassica nigra (seeds), Ocimum basilicum (whole plant) and Rumex abyssinicus (roots) in a dose of 20 and 40mg/ml against Eritrean adult earthworm Pheretima posthuma to justify the traditional claim using mebendazole as a reference standard. From the results, the paralysis and death time of worms in all extracts was found to be dose dependent and the potent anthelmintic activity was observed in aqueous extracts in comparison to methanolic extracts. Among the three plants Ocimum basilicum showed a potent anthelmintic activity with least paralysis time and death time, whereas Rumex abyssinicus extracts showed an intermediate activity and Brassica nigra has taken long time for death of worms. All the values were found to be statistically significant with P value of 0.00 using one way ANOVA. Based on the findings it may be concluded that Brassica nigra, Ocimum basilicum and Rumex abyssinicus possess varying degree of anthelmintic activity and also justifies its folklore claims for potential anthelmintic property.