Efficacia di un antiparassitario convenzionale e un fitoterapico a confronto in un allevamento caprino biologico

Dairy goat organic farming is a rising sector in Italy. The EU regulation on
organic production systems (Reg. EU 889/2008) includes measures aimed to maintain and improve animal
health and welfare including the access to pasture: therefore gastrointestinal parasites have greater
impact in organic farming systems rather than in conventional ones, causing important economic losses.
Furthermore, the regulation limits the use of allopathic medicines, recommending implementation of preventive
management strategies or, when necessary, the use of alternative veterinary treatments, such
as phytotherapy. In an organic farm with 77 dairy goats were carried anthelmintics treatments on the
entire lactating group: 15 animals were treated with 5% netobimin (8 primiparous and 7 secondipara)
and 62 with an herbal product: among these 62, 15 were selected (8 primiparous and 7 secondipara) to
compare the efficacy of the two products. Fecal individual samples were collected before treatment (T0)
and monthly, for a total of 3 controls. The feces were analyzed with McMaster technique to evaluate the
worm burden (epg). The results of the analyses showed significant differences between categories (primiparous
< secondipara) and between treatments (netobimin < phytotherapic) throughout the experimental
period, although initial infestation was high in both groups. Grazing is fundamental in the management
of the group, since previous infestations have never been controlled and the rotation was applied for the
first time only in the last months. The herbal product resulted unsuitable for worm burden control, showing
large differences in individual responses within the group of animals which received the product. It is
therefore necessary to promote scientific research to find effective herbal products to be recommended
to organic farmers and solve this important problem.