Prevalence of gastrointestinal worms in sheep and goat farms in Western and Northern Division of Fiji

Abstract

<p>The aim of this study was to quantify the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) in small ruminants raised in private farms in Fiji.</p> <p>In this study, 17 farms were sampled from the Western (n = 8) and Northern (n = 9) divisions of Fiji including a total of n = 257 goats and n = 299 sheep. On each farm, approximately 10 animals were sampled from each class of small ruminant species: young animals (YA), dry females and reproductive males (DF & RM) and lactating females (LF). The larval culture was prepared using the pooled samples from all the three classes, approximately 70 g of sample from each class using vermiculite in 1:1 ratio. Cultured bottles were kept in the incubator for 7 days at 27 C. Recovery of larvae was done by adding warm water washing of the lids and the sides of the bottles in the falcon tubes.</p> <p>Overall, the main differences observed in the predominance of GIN genera when comparing the two small ruminant species were for <i>Haemonchus</i> and <i>Trichostrongylus</i>. Sheep had a larger proportion of <i>Haemonchus</i> (43 vs 24%) and a lower presence of <i>Trichostrongylus</i> (25 vs 37%) when compared to goats. <i>Oesophagostomum</i> (14 vs 22%) and <i>Strongyloides</i> (16 vs 15%) had an overall lower proportion when compared to the other two genera and the prevalence across the small ruminant species was similar for sheep and goats respectively. A substantial variation in terms of GIN genera was observed across the different animal classes and no clear pattern is shown when comparing the different classes between the two small ruminant species. The only genera which was similar was <i>Strongyloides</i>. <i>Haemonchus</i> dominance followed by <i>Trichostrongylus</i>, <i>Oesophagostomum</i> and lastly <i>Strongyloides</i> were seen in sheep, whereas this pattern is different in goats as dominance of <i>Trichostrongylus</i> followed by <i>Haemonchus</i>, <i>Strongyloides</i> and lastly <i>Oesophagostomum</i> was noticed.</p>