Investigation of possible pumpkin seeds and ginger effects on gastrointestinal nematode infection indicators in meat goat kids and lambs

• Pumpkin seed treatments had no effect on parasite infection indicators in meat goat kids and lambs.
• Ginger failed as an anthelmintic in meat goat kids.
• More research is needed into alternative strategies for parasite control in sheep and goats.

In four experiments, 77 naturally-infected Boer crossbred kids and 28 artificially-inoculated Katahdin lambs were used to evaluate the effect of pumpkin seeds (Exp 1; 21 kids), ginger or pumpkin seed drench (Exp 2; 30 kids) and pumpkin seed oil (Exp 3 and 4: 28 lambs and 26 kids, respectively) on gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) indicators. In all experiments, kids and lambs were placed in individual pens and received pre-weighed rations of a commercially pelleted meat goat or sheep diet daily. In Exp 1, kids were supplemented with ground pumpkin seeds (PUM; n = 10) mixed into feed daily at a rate of 5 g/kg body weight (BW) or were not supplemented (CON; n = 11) for 21 days. In Exp 2, kids were orally drenched with water (CON; n = 10), 5 g pumpkin seed/kg BW (PUM; n = 10) or 3 g ginger/kg BW (GIR; n = 10) every other day for 42 days. In Exp 3, lambs were orally drenched with 2 ml/kg water (CON; n = 7), 2.0 ml/kg BW pumpkin seed oil once every 7 days (PUM1; n = 10), or 2.0 ml/kg BW pumpkin seed oil daily for 3 out of every 7 days (PUM2; n = 11) for 28 days. In Exp 4, kids were orally drenched with 2 ml/kg water (CON; n = 13), or 2.0 ml/kg BW pumpkin seed oil (PUM; n = 13) every other day for 35 days. In all experiments, BW, daily feed intake and blood and fecal samples were collected every 7 days. All animals in Exp 2 were harvested at a USDA-inspected abattoir and abomasal and small intestinal contents were collected for total worm counts. The FEC were similar for treatments in all experiments. Treatment influenced PCV (P < 0.05) only in Exp 1 and 4. In Exp 2, at harvest, there was a tendency (P = 0.08) for CON animals to have a higher number of total GIN than GIR-treated animals, but PUM-treated animals were intermediate. BW were similar for treatments in Exp 1, 2 and 3 while CON animals in Exp 4 had a greater BW than PUM-treated animals on day 7 only and were similar thereafter (treatment by day interaction, P < 0.05). In these studies, pumpkin and ginger treatments administered were not effective in reducing FEC in meat goat kids or lambs.