Efficacy of short-term feeding of sulla (Hedysarum coronarium) to young goats against a mixed burden of gastrointestinal nematodes

The aim was to investigate the efficacy of feeding sulla to young goats (<6 months of age) against a naturally acquired infection of gastrointestinal nematodes. Eleven goats were removed from the field, housed and were randomly divided into two treatment groups. Group 1 (n = 5) was fed a diet comprising lucerne-based pellets and aged hay. Group 2 (n = 6) were fed a diet of only sulla offered ad lib. The sulla contained 2.6% free condensed tannins (CT), 1.8% protein-bound CT and 0.1% fibre-bound CT. Goats in Gp 2 ate the sulla very readily from the first day. The goats were fed these diets for 10 days, then killed and total worm counts obtained. The arithmetic mean worm counts (in parentheses) for Gp 1 and Gp 2, respectively, were Teladorsagia circumcincta (5792, 5690), Trichostrongylus colubriformis (272, 262), T. vitrinus (1060, 1804) and Trichuris spp. (32, 30). There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between any of these treatments. Short-term feeding of sulla had no effect on mixed burdens of gastrointestinal nematodes.