Epidemiology of Gastrointestinal Parasitism in Small Ruminants in Pudukkottai District, India

Sheep and goats are the earliest ruminants to be domesticated. They can withstand a period of draught better than any other livestock and they can use those pastures, which cannot be used by other livestock. Sheep and goat rearing plays an important role in the livelihood of poor, small and marginal farmers and provides a major source of income especially through self-employment and guaranteed supplementary household income to the majority of rural farming population of India, since the sheep and goats are the good source of food protein, skin, fiber, manure, etc. and these animals provide an average net income of about ₹ 250/animal to its owner and to the Indian economy as a whole of ₹ 66.109 million annually (Madan,1996). Commonly occurring gastrointestinal parasitism in goats and sheep are Haemonchosis, Strongyloidosis, Oesophagostomiasis, Bunostomiasis, Trichostrongylosis and Coccidiosis. Among these G.I parasites, Haemonchus contortus is the most prevalent and important parasite (Khalafalla et al., 2011). The degree of infestation may be sub-clinical or clinical A prevalence study on the gastrointestinal (G.I) parasitism of sheep and goats was carried out during October 2016 to March 2017 in Pudukkottai district, Tamilnadu. A total of 1300 small ruminants comprising of 650 sheep and 650 goats were collected from organized and unorganized farms located in the study region. Out of 1300 faecal samples examined 599(43.00%) were positive for G.I parasites. The sheep population had higher prevalence of 302 (46.46%) while the goat population had lesser prevalence of 257 (39.53%). Male sheep had a prevalence of 96(17.17%) while female sheep had a prevalence of 206(37.05%). Male goats had a prevalence of 85(15.20%) while females had a prevalence of 172(30.76%). The higher prevalence of G.I parasites were observed in young animals when compared to adult ones. A significant difference was observed in prevalence of G.I parasites with respect to season where in higher prevalence 354 (54.46%) were recorded during the wet season while 205(31.53%) in dry season (summer). The G.I parasites observed were H.contortus, O.columbianum, B.trigonocephalum, S.papillosus, M.expansa and Coccidia species. H.contortus and Coccidia species had the highest prevalence, while M.expansa had the lowest prevalence. K e y w o r d s