Year: 2022 | Month: February | Volume 12 | Issue 1
Dynamics of Gastrointestinal Parasitism in Sheep during Peri-parturient Period on Organized Farm
Dinesh Kumar Sharma
Gopal Das
Ajoy Mandal
Nitika Sharma
Yogendra Kumar Kushwah
DOI:10.30954/2277-940X.01.2022.6
Abstract:
The strongyle and coccidian parasitism was monitored through faecal eggs/oocysts count in Muzaffarnagri ewes, during peri-parturient period (PPP) to study the prevalence and effect of different environmental factors. The data generated on faecal count were transformed using log transformation (log (n +100)) for normalization. The transformed data were analyzed through least squares analysis considering the effects of factors like physiological state (pregnancy/lactation), season of lambing and years. Resulted means were back-transformed and presented as Geometric means. Strongyle worms and coccidian infections were the major infections affecting the ewes. Haemonchus contortus was the predominant strongyle worm in the ewes though worms like Oesophagostomum and Trichuris spp. were also observed. Coccidian infection was mixed and seven species of Eimeria were recorded. Overall prevalence of coccidian and strongyle worm in ewes during PPP was found to be 54.31 and 33.40 percent respectively. Specific coccidian prevalence in pregnant and lactating ewe during PPP was 54.98 and 48.18 percent respectively while strongyle prevalence was 31.07 and 36.50 percent, respectively. The coccidian prevalence in peri-parturient ewes differed kidding and lactating season-wise and Year-wise. However, the observation with strongyle worm infection was reverse. Mean faecal egg count (FEC) in lactating ewes was found to be significantly higher (P<0.001) than pregnant ewes. Also, means FEC in ewes lambed in two different seasons were significantly (P<0.001) different. Similarly significant variations in FEC were observed between years of lambing. Though, mean FOC in pregnant and lactating ewes did not differ significantly yet the effect of lambing season on FOC was significant and ewes lambed in first season (February–April) showed lower FOC mean.
Highlights
- Prevalence of Strongyle worms and coccidian infection between pregnant and lactating Muzaffarnagari ewes was not significantly different.
- Coccidian prevalence observed in ewes lambing and lactating in 1st season (7.04%) was quite low compared to 2nd lambing and lactating season (71.80 %).
- Effect of lambing season on both FOC and FEC in ewe was significant.
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