Journal of Veterinary Parasitology
Year : 2005, Volume : 19, Issue : 1
First page : ( 31) Last page : ( 33)
Print ISSN : 0971-6157.

Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites of livestock in a central dry zone of Karnataka

Muraleedharan K.*

Zonal Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Tiptur-572 202, India

*Present address: Pranavam, T.C. No. 37/282, Thrikkumaramkudam, Thrissur-680 003, India. E-mail: kandayath@rediffmail.com

Abstract

Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites among cattle (18.22%), buffaloes (20.85%), sheep (39.34%) and goats (46.12%) of southern taluks of central dry zone of Karnataka during drought period has been reported. Strongyles were the most common nematode. Toxocara infection was slightly higher in buffaloes than in cattle. Fasciola, amphistomes, Moniezia and Entamoeba infections were low among livestock but Fasciola infection was not seen in sheep. Eimeria infection was found comparatively higher in sheep than goats. Ova of Gongylonema were recorded from one cattle and Strongyloides were observed only in sheep. Low incidence of Trichuris infection was noticed in cattle, sheep and goats. Strongyle infection in livestock was found higher during southwest monsoon.

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Keywords

Gastrointestinal parasites, Prevalence, Cattle, Buffalo, Sheep, Goat.

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Introduction

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Materials and Methods

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Results and Discussion

Large ruminants

Among the large ruminants, 258 samples (18.22%) of cattle and 49 (20.85%) of buffaloes were found positive for the ova of different gastrointestinal parasites indicating that cattle had lower rate of parasitism than buffaloes. Mixed infections of two to three different parasites were observed in 9.30% cattle and 14.28% buffaloes. Taxocara sp., strongyles, Fasciola sp., amphistomes, Moniezia sp., Entamoeba sp., Eimeria sp. and Buxtonella sp. were recorded among cattle and buffaloes, but the ova of Trichuris sp. and Gongylonema sp. were also detected. Strongyle infections ranked high in cattle (11.09%) than buffaloes (9.79%). Both these observations are in conformity with the reports of Punniamurthy et al. (1988). Toxocara vitulorum infection was recorded more in buffalo calves (1.28%) than in cow calves (0.14%).

Among the snail-borne trematodes, very low infection of Fasciola sp. (0.14%) and amphistomes (1.27%) was recorded in cattle, whereas 0.42% samples were positive for both these infections in buffaloes. The reason for low trematode infections was due to drying up of snail habitats. In canal irrigated areas of the Mysore and Mandya districts of Karnataka, amphistome and Fasciola sp. infections were highly predominant in bovines than strongyles (Muraleedharan et al., 1990). Similar information on prevalence of higher percentage of amphistomes with lesser percentage of other common infections in bovines was recorded from Eastern Haryana and Gujarat (Ghosh et al., 1987; Hirani et al., 1999).

Moniezia sp. (M. benedini and M. expansa) were commonly seen in cattle and buffaloes with equal percentage of infection (0.85). Among protozoa, 0.28, 1.69and4.38% infections of the cysts of Entamoeba sp., Eimeria sp. and Buxtonella sp., respectively were recorded in cattle whereas the corresponding figures for buffaloes were 1.70, 2.13 and 7.23%. The infection rates for Moniezia sp. and Eimeria sp. were quite low compared to those reported from Tamil Nadu (Balasubramaniyam et al., 2001; Hirani et al., 1999).

Small ruminants

About 39.34% sheep and 46.12% goats harboured different gastrointestinal parasitic infections. Concurrent infections up to three types of parasites were observed in 5.72% sheep and 8.67% goats examined. Infections of Trichuris sp., strongyles, amphistomes, Moniezia sp., Entamoeba sp. and Eimeria sp. were also reported in which strongyle infections were predominant in 31.68% sheep and 39.53% goats. Haemonchus contortus was the very common strongylid of small ruminants, but rarely Oesophagostomum columbianum was recorded. Strongyloides (0.45 %) infection was noticed only in sheep while goats were found free from this infection. Studies from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal indicated that sheep were more susceptible to these infections than goats, and strongyles as well as Trichuris sp. infections were found higher in goats than sheep (Bandyopadhyay, 1999; Balasubramanyam et al., 2001).

Surprisingly, Fasciola sp. infection was observed only in goats (0.47%), but not in sheep. Sheep and goats had 1.05 and 0.47% amphistome infections, respectively. Moniezia (M. benedini and M. expansa) was the sole cestode infection found in sheep (1.65%) and goats (0.94%). Low percentage of Entamoeba sp. infection was recorded among sheep (0.15%) and goats (0.23%). In the present study, eimerian oocysts were recovered from 8.26% sheep and 6.12% goats, while 34.61 and 21.01% infections among sheep and goats, respectively were recorded by (Balsubramanyam et al., 2001) in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu.

Contrary to the present finding, higher percentage of parasitism was reported from other parts of Karnataka (Muraleedharan et al., 1994; Dhanalaksmi et al., 2001). Lower percentage or even absence of Moniezia sp. infection among sheep in Orissa and Coimbatore (Misra et al., 1974; Chellappa and Gopalakrishnan, 1977). Higher infection rate of trematodes and cestodes and lower infection of nematodes were reported in goats from Assam (Talukdar, 1996). Makhdoomi et al. (1995) recorded very high percentage of Strongyloides sp. infection followed by Moniezia sp. and Eimeria sp. with very low infection rates of strongyles and trematodes in Kashmir valley.

Seasonal incidence

Higher incidence of gastrointestinal parasites was found mostly during monsoon in livestock. Strongyle infections were recorded throughout the year. Their incidence attained peak during southwest monsoon with simultaneous increase in gastrointestinal parasitism. A second peak was observed during northeast monsoon in buffaloes, sheep and goats whereas in cattle, it was found during cold weather. Monsoon was found to be more favourable for strongyle infections among livestock (Misra et al., 1974). Report of Gupta et al. (1987) indicated that gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep persisted throughout the year in Haryana. Whereas peak worm burden with nematodes in sheep was earlier reported in monsoon in the region around Bangalore (Seshachalam, 1977).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Chief Scientific Officer of the Station and to the Director of Research, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore for the facilities provided and the encouragement given.

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