Swoyam Prakash Shrestha*, Puja Bajracharya, and SP Shrestha
Livestock farming is one of the important agriculture sectors in Nepal. Small ruminant production especially goat and sheep have become an additional source of income for most Nepalese people. However, the production of these livestock has been decreasing due to the occurrence of gastrointestinal helminth infection. This study was performed to determine the overall prevalence of specific GI helminth parasites from the collected fecal sample of small ruminants from four different eco-climatic zones of Nepal i.e. Rasuwa, Rupandehi, Syangja, and Kavre. A total of 274 fresh fecal samples were collected and were placed in a zip-lock poly bag to which few drops of 10% formalin soaked in cotton was added to safeguard the sample. The qualitative fecal examination was carried out by different methods i.e. using differential flotation methods for nematodes, cestodes, and using sedimentation methods for trematodes. Examination of the fecal sample revealed that among 274 samples, 72 (26%) was found to be infected with various gastrointestinal helminth parasites. Altogether six different types of helminth parasites were found. Infection of Trichuris sp was found highest i.e. 12.04% and infection of Strongylus sp was least i.e. 1.09%. The prevalence of mixed infection was 0.72%. The comparison between the prevalence of helminth parasites among four different areas of Nepal showed the highest occurrence of GI helminth in Kavre (33.86%) followed by Rasuwa (26.60%), Syangja (21.87%), and Rupandehi (19.98%). The presence of various species of gastrointestinal helminths within small ruminants is an important cause of morbidity and loss of production. From the study we can conclude the need of effective and quantitative parasitic examination on more farms in large scale for betterment of health and increase productivity of the animal.
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