Efecto anticoccidial de los extractos de taninos de Tara spinosa (Molina) Britton & Rose sobre la supervivencia de los ovocitos apicomplejos de Eimeria sp.

An aqueous extract of hydrolysable tannins from the pericarp of tara plants was studied using pod fruits collected from the highlands of La Libertad region in northern Perú. The presence of tannins in the extract was verified through the use of the iron trichloride (FeCl₃) test and a concentration of 45% of tannins analogous to gallic acid was calculated using a spectrophotometric method. The extract was applied on live oocysts of Eimeria sp. present in the EVANT® live vaccine (this formulation contains coccidian species with specific pathogenicity to poultry birds). The oocysts were exposed to ten treatments with increased concentrations and two controls with five replicates for each one. Microscopic inspection was carried out regularly after the time of exposure aiming to detect cell membrane integrity. The results show that the greatest number of oocysts affected by the extracts occurred at a concentration of 50000 ppm after 48 hours of in vitro exposure, so it suggests that the tannin extract from tara has anticoccidial properties on parasites affecting poultry. Further studies are recommended to investigate the effect of tara extracts on oocytes in vivo, and its eventual incorporation as ingredient in bird feed for poultry production.