The efficiency of five natural antioxidants (curcumin, cranberry, pomegranate, grape seed extract (GSE), and açai berry) in reducing lipid oxidation in dog food was compared to that of the synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). In two different experiments content parameters were measured after 12 days of storage at 55°C. In experiment one, the natural antioxidants were added at 0.2% and BHA at 0.02% of the food (DM basis), and samples were analysed for thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS). In experiment two, the effects of GSE and curcumin at two admixture proportions (0.1% and 0.2% of food DM) on omega-3 fatty acid (FA) content were evaluated. TBARS values were lower than the control (P < 0.01) for curcumin, cranberry, pomegranate, and GSE but not for the açai berry (P > 0.05). By day 12, although there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) between the two curcumin treatments, they preserved higher concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (P < 0.05) than the BHA and control treatments. The addition of GSE or BHA to dog food held (P < 0.05) the concentrations of EPA higher than the control. The concentrations of EPA and DHA for the 0.2% GSE treatment were greater (P < 0.05) than the 0.1% GSE treatment. Grape seed extract at 0.2% lost less (P < 0.05) EPA concentration than BHA. The present results showed that, except for açai berry, the tested natural antioxidants could be used as a substitute for BHA in dog food.

Parasitic nematode infection in animal is one of the main causes for the mortality of animals and most of the treatment relies on the use of the anthelmintic drugs to overcome such a problem. However, the heavy use of anthelmintic contributed to the problem of multidrug resistance. This study was carried out to investigate the infectiveness of Punica granatum (aqueous leaf and peel extracts) as an alternative treatment. This study utilised the in-vitro assay technique (motility assayand larval migration inhibition assay) to determine the effect of the extracts on the survival of L3 stage of parasitic nematodes.The results showed that incubation of L3 in different concentrations (5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 mg/ml) of extracts paralysed and killed the worms after 24 hours and 48 hours ofincubation periods. The same results were obtained from larval migration inhibition assay, showing that both extracts of Punicagranatum inhibited the migration of the L3. After 2 hours of incubation in the leaf extract (5 mg/ml), the migration of nematode larvae was inhibited to 56±12.29% as compared tothe control. While for the peel extract the percentage of migration was reduced to 53 ±3.33%. Further reduction of the migration was observed at 10, 20 and 50 mg/ml of leaf extract.