Vet World   Vol.13   October-2020  Article-27

Gastrointestinal parasite infection intensity and hematological parameters in South African communal indigenous goats in relation to anemia

Background and Aim: The study was conducted to determine the intensity of gastrointestinal parasite (GIP) infections and hematological parameters in South African communal indigenous goats in relation to anemia.

Materials and Methods: A total of 288 goats were randomly sampled in areas representing four agro-ecological zones. Fecal and blood samples were collected from the rectum and jugular vein, respectively, of each animal. The number of eggs per gram (EPG) and oocysts per gram (OPG) of feces and the hematological parameters were determined using the modified McMaster technique and a BC-2800Vet® automatic hematology analyzer, respectively. Data were analyzed using the repeated measures techniques of Minitab 17, modeling the covariance structure of the observed data.

Results: Based on EPG and OPG, goats in humid zone were significantly infected (p<0.05) with strongyles, Eimeria, Moniezia, and Trichuris spp. Hematological parameters of goats in arid and humid zone were lower (p<0.05) than those in semi-arid and dry sub-humid zone. GIP infection intensities were higher (p<0.05) in young animals than in adult and suckling goats. GIP infection intensity was similar between goat sexes, while hematological parameters were higher (p<0.05) in females. Higher (p<0.05) infection intensities for strongyles (302.90 EPG) and Eimeria (216.09 EPG) were observed in winter compared to summer (strongyles: 302.90, Eimeria: 216.09 EPG). Higher (p<0.05) values for the hematological parameters were observed during summer compared to that in winter.

Conclusion: GIP infection intensity in the winter could be associated with hypochromic and normocytic anemia which likely to affects suckling goats while in the summer could be associated with normochromic and normocytic anemia which likely to affect young goats. Keywords: hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, packed cell volume, strongyles.

Keywords: hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, packed cell volume, strongyles.

How to cite this article: Mpofu TJ, Nephawe KA, Mtileni B (2020) Gastrointestinal parasite infection intensity and hematological parameters in South African communal indigenous goats in relation to anemia, Veterinary World, 13(10):2226-2233.

Received: 25-04-2020  Accepted: 18-09-2020     Published online: 27-10-2020

Corresponding author: Takalani Judas Mpofu   E-mail: mpofutj@tut.ac.za

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.2226-2233

Copyright: Mpofu, 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.