Prevalence of coccidian infection in rabbit farms in North Algeria

Vet World Vol.11 November-2018 Article-7

Research Article

Veterinary World, 11(11): 1569-1573

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2018.1569-1573

Samia Maziz-Bettahar^1,2, Miriem Aissi², Hacina Ainbaziz², Mohamed Sadek Bachene^2,3, Safia Zenia², and Fairouz Ghisani⁴

1. Clinical Department, Institute of Veterinary Science, University of Blida 1, Ouled Yaich 9000 Blida, Algeria.
2. Higher National Veterinary School, Laboratory Research of Health and Animal Production, BP161, Rue Issad Abbes, Oued Smar, Algiers, Algeria.
3. Department of Nature and Life Sciences, Dr. Yahia Fares University, Medea, Algeria.
4. Renewable Energy and Environmental, Faculty of Technology, University of Blida 1, Ouled Yaich 9000 Blida, Algeria.

Background and Aim: The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and intensity of rabbit coccidiosis (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in North Algeria.

Materials and Methods: During the study, 40 rabbit farms were investigated. The farms are located in the provinces of Tizi Ouzou, Medea, and Djelfa which distributed, respectively, into three regions: East Tell Atlas Mountains, Central Tell Atlas Mountains, and High Plateaus. The number of oocyst per gram of feces (OPG) was determined by McMaster technique, and the Eimeria species were identified using morphological criteria.

Results: In the farms investigated, the prevalence of coccidian infection was estimated to 90% (80.7-99.3%) in rabbits after weaning. The classification of the farms according to their parasite load allowed us to show that 37.5% of the prospective farms have an oocyst excretion between 104 and 5×104 oocysts per gram and 22.5% excrete >5×104 oocysts per gram. Excretion levels by region show that the region of East Tel Atlas Mountains ranks first with 79% of farms with a parasitic load >104 coccidians compared to the regions of Central Tel Atlas Mountains and High Plateaus. In total, eight species of Eimeria were identified from oocyst-positive samples. Mixed infections with four Eimeria species were common. E. magna is the dominant species in comparison with E. media and E. irresidua with respective frequencies of 42.5% and 17.6% and 14.9% (p<0.001). Our results showed that the farms using anticoccidial drugs for their rabbits were low (25%) and the percentage of farms with poor hygienic conditions was 65%. There was a significant association between increased oocysts excretion and control measures of coccidian infection.

Conclusion: The study revealed an overall prevalence of 90% in the three Algerian regions. A strong association was observed between Eimeria infection and hygienic status and preventional chemotherapy. Keywords: Algeria, coccidiosis, Eimeria, oocysts, prevalence, rabbit.

Keywords: Algeria, coccidiosis, Eimeria, oocysts, prevalence, rabbit.

How to cite this article: Maziz-Bettahar S, Aissi M, Ainbaziz H, Bachene MS, Zenia S, Ghisani F (2018) Prevalence of coccidian infection in rabbit farms in North Algeria, Veterinary World, 11(11): 1569-1573.

Received: 17-06-2018 Accepted: 24-09-2018 Published online: 12-11-2018

Corresponding author: Samia Maziz-Bettahar E-mail: samabe72@yahoo.fr

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2018.1569-1573

Copyright: Maziz-Bettahar, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.