The extend and burden of nematodes infection among goats slaughtered at Arua City Abattoir

Abstract

Gastrointestinal parasite infection among small ruminants remains one of the major causes of economic losses to goat farmers. The losses could be attributed to reduced growth rate, stunted growth, reduced productivity and sometimes death of heavily infected goats. This study investigated the prevalence and burden of nematode infections among goats presented for slaughter at Arua City Abattoir. Demographic factors of the goats were obtained followed by thorough ante mortem examination of each goat. Fecal sample was obtained from the rectum of each selected goat and placed in sample bags (polythene bags). The collected samples were added 70% alcohol for preservation, carefully shielded following triple packing principle and labeled and transferred to the laboratory. At the laboratory, floatation method was used to concentrate nematode eggs and McMaster technique used to determine the number of eggs per gram. The overall prevalence of nematodes among the goats sampled was 70.5%. Small East African goats were the dominant breed presented for slaughter and were also the most infected (68%) breed, followed by Mubende goats and cross breed goats. Worm eggs were detected in goats from all districts where the slaughtered goats originated from, however the highest (24.20%) prevalence was recorded among goats from Arua district and the lowest prevalence (0.48%) was among goats from Zombo district. All the breeds sampled had some individual goats infected with nematodes, though at different proportions. The highest EPG (4,050) was recorded among Sudanese dwarf goats, average (705.8 EPG) among Small east African goats and the least (137.5 EPG) was among Mubende goat breed. Farmers in West Nile region should regularly deworm the animals and practice good animal husbandry so as to reduce worn burden among their goats. Extensive study should be conducted to establish the factors that could have contributed to the high prevalence of gastro-intestinal nematodes in the study area.