Gastrointestinal (GI) parasitic infection is a serious issue in cattle management. The effects of GI parasites may vary with age, sex of cattle, nutritional condition, and severity of infection. Prevalence of GI parasites among cattle population in Gampaha District has not been studied and there is no published study available. A total of 45 farms rearing cattle were selected randomly in three areas, namely, Kelaniya, Ganemulla, and Welisara, under three Veterinary Surgeon Divisions (VSD) in Gampaha District (Mahara, Gampaha, and Welisara). Freshly voided cattle fecal samples were collected randomly from the selected farms during March 2017–December 2017. Out of 163 cattle and buffaloes examined, 13.39% (n=22) were positive for eggs of one or more species of GI parasites. The prevalence of parasitic infection was higher in buffaloes (31.25%, 5/16) as compared to that of cows (11.56%, 21/147), but the difference was not significant (
Livestock farming, particularly rearing of cattle (
Parasitic diseases caused by intestinal parasites constitute a major impediment to livestock production [
In addition, these infections enhance susceptibility to bacterial and viral diseases and losses resulting from condemnation of carcasses and organs, as well as cost of drugs and veterinary care [
Anthelmintics and antiprotozoal agents have been used to control gastrointestinal parasitic infections over the last ten decades [
In order for an anthelmintic strategy to be successful, in-depth knowledge of pathophysiology and epidemiology of the parasite, in the context of immunity and management of the host, is required. Therefore, periodical monitoring of parasitic species among livestock animals would be beneficial to control and manage diseases at early stages of infections in farm management practices.
Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites among cattle population in Gampaha District has not been studied and there is no published study available. In addition, it is important to study the present situation of parasitic infections in cattle and associated risk factors. Hence, the aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of single and concurrent infections of GI parasites among cattle and the intensity of infections in selected farms in Gampaha District of Sri Lanka.
The District of Gampaha, located in the Western Province of Sri Lanka covering an area of 1,387 km2, was selected as the major study area. The mean annual rainfall of Gampaha remains around 2,398 mm, while the mean annual temperature is about 27.3°C.
Based on the registered cattle farms at Veterinary Investigation Centre, Welisara, 45 farms were selected randomly for the study using a random number table method based on the geographic location. These 45 farms fell into three Veterinary Surgeon Divisions (VSD), namely, Mahara VSD, Gampaha VSD, and Welisara VSD. Mainly these farms were distributed in Kelaniya, Ganemulla, and Welisara areas. The geographical distribution of the selected farms is illustrated in Figure
Sampling sites located within the three Veterinary Surgeon Divisions in Gampaha District.
The treatment against gastrointestinal (GI) parasites in calves was administered at 21-day, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month intervals, respectively, with a standard mixture of Albendazole and Fenbendazole, in accordance with the country guidelines based on the body mass of cattle. Subsequently, a high dosage is provided annually as the deworming practice. Cattle that underwent the above standard procedure were considered as “treated,” while cattle that missed two or more treatments were grouped as “partially treated.” The rest of the population that were never treated were considered as the “nontreated” sample in the present study.
A total of 163 freshly voided cattle fecal samples (30 g) from the selected farms were collected randomly into 275 ml sterile plastic containers with a screwed lid directly from the rectum of the cattle or freshly dropped feces from the ground separately, over a period of nine months from March 2017 to December 2017.
Each container was labeled assigning a reference number. About 15 ml of 10% formalin was introduced
Fecal samples were analyzed using standard parasitological screening techniques for intestinal parasites, namely, simple salt floatation technique followed by sedimentation [
The parasite eggs/oocysts, larvae, and cysts were examined and identified to the generic level of the parasite by microscopy based on the morphological identification keys described by Zajac and Conboy [
where
All the data were entered into a Microsoft Excel worksheet and all the data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 23 copyright IBM Corporation). The significance of the effect of the treatment status, spatial location, age, gender, and type of cattle on the prevalence of GI parasitic infections among cattle was statistically evaluated by using the General Linear Model (GLM) followed by Tukey’s pairwise comparison in SPSS (version 23). In addition, the Bray-Curtis similarity based cluster analysis followed by analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) (i.e., a nonparametric analog of MANOVA) was utilized to identify the overall clustering status of cattle from different areas in terms of the prevalence of different parasite families [
Further, the Principal Coordinates (PCO) analysis and Distance-Based Redundancy Analysis (dbRDA) were also performed to highlight and visually represent the underlying segregation patterns of the study populations based on variations in the GI parasite abundance using the Plymouth Routines in Multivariate Ecological Research version 6 (PRIMER 6).
The study population was comprised of 100 “treated,” 33 “partially treated,” and 30 “nontreated” individuals. The parasitological observations confirmed that the immunity against gastrointestinal (GI) parasitic infections increased along with the effectiveness of the treatment status. The nontreated animals indicated the highest percentage of parasitic infections accounting for 46.67% (n= 14), followed by partially treated individuals (15.15%, n= 5).
Meanwhile, the treated population was denoted by only 3% (n= 3) occurrence of GI parasitic infections (Table
Percentage of GI parasitic infection rates among cattle at different treatment status.
| | |
---|---|---|
Treated (N=100) | 3 (n=3) | 0.01 |
Partially treated (N=33) | 15.15 (n=5) | |
Nontreated (N=30) | 46.67 (n=14) |
A variety of GI parasites, namely, eggs of hookworms (
Parasite-wise prevalence of GI parasites in cows and buffaloes.
| | | |
---|---|---|---|
| | | |
| 1.36% (n=2) | 0% (n=0) | 1.23% (n=2) |
| 4.76% (n=7) | 12.25% (n=2) | 5.52% (n=9) |
| 1.36% (n=2) | 18.75% (n=3) | 3.07% (n=5) |
| 0.68% (n=1) | - | 0.61% (n=1) |
Coccidians oocysts | 3.40% (n=5) | - | 3.07% (n=5) |
Variation of the total eggs per gram of GI parasites among the cows and buffaloes.
Only coccidian oocysts were found among the treated sample of cattle indicating that these parasites may have a higher tolerance range against standard treatment protocols (Figure
Variation of the total eggs per gram of GI parasites among the cattle with different treatment status.
Based on the above, the present study indicated very high parasitic infections in cattle for nematode and coccidial oocysts. The average FEC of
A total of 16 buffaloes and 147 cows were examined during the current study. Of them, 31.25% (n=5) of buffaloes were infected with GI parasites (Table
Percentage of GI parasite infection based on gender.
| | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cows (N=147) | Male (N=28) | 32.14 (n=9) | 11.56 | 0.04 |
Female (N=119) | 6.72 (n=8) | (17/147) | ||
Buffaloes (N=16) | Male (N=5) | 60.00 (n=3) | 31.25 | |
Female (N=11) | 18.18 (n=2) | (5/16) | ||
| ||||
Overall (N=163) | Male (N=33) | 36.36 (n=12) | 0.03 | |
Female (N=130) | 7.69 (n=10) |
In case of gender, 32.14% (n=9) of the male cows were infected, while only 6.72% (n=8) of females indicated the presence of any GI parasite. A similar trend was observed in buffaloes also, whereby 60.0% (n=3) of males were infected. In general, out of 33 males, 12 were infected with GI parasites, denoting that males had a higher prevalence rate of GI parasites (Table
The GLM advocated that males had a significantly higher susceptibility to GI parasites than females (
Amphistome eggs present in male buffaloes (18.75%) were higher than the female buffaloes.
It was interesting to note that even though all the abovementioned parasites were found in the infected population of cows, only
The cattle population was defined as calve (≤ 12 months), yearling/heifer (13–60 months), and elderly/matured (>60 months) based on their life span. In cows, the calves (17.07%) had a higher susceptibility towards GI infections followed by yearling (14.29%). Interestingly, the elderly cows had the lowest infection rate of 4.0% (Table
Percentage of cattle belonging to different age groups with GI parasitic infections.
| | | |
---|---|---|---|
Cows (N=147) | Calves (N=41) | 17.07 (n=7) | 0.042 |
Yearlings (N=56) | 14.29 (n=8) | ||
Elderly (N=50) | 4.00 (n=2) | ||
| |||
Buffaloes (N=16) | Calves (N=3) | 33.33 (n=1) | 0.037 |
Yearlings (N=4) | 50.00 (n=2) | ||
Elderly (N=9) | 22.22 (n=2) |
The study population included 163 cattle selected from three study areas, namely, Welisara (n=118), Kelaniya (n=35), and Ganemulla (n=10), covering 45 farms. The highest infection rate of GI parasites was observed at Kelaniya (31.43%), followed by Welisara (9.32%). Interestingly, none of the cattle from the Ganemulla area were infected with any GI parasite. In case of the diversity of the GI parasites, all the observed parasites except for amphistomes were found from the cattle in the Welisara area. Subsequently,
Percentage of cattle belonging to different study areas with different GI parasitic infections.
| | | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | ||
Welisara | 9.32 | 36.36 | 9.09 | 36.36 | 0.00 | 9.09 |
(N=118) | (n=11) | (n=4) | (n=1) | (n=4) | (n=0) | (n=1) |
| ||||||
Ganemulla | (n=0) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
(N=10) | (n=0) | (n=0) | (n=0) | (n=0) | (n=0) | |
| ||||||
Kelaniya | 31.43 | 9.09 | 9.09 | 36.36 | 45.45 | 0.00 |
(N=35) | (n=11) | (n=1) | (n=1) | (n=4) | (n=5) | (n=0) |
As indicated by the results of GLM, the spatial location of the cattle significantly affected the incidence of GI parasites in cattle (
Dendrogram showing the spatial clustering of studied sites based on the prevalence of GI parasitic infections among cattle.
As indicated by the Bray-Curtis similarity clustering, both Kelaniya and Welisara share a similarity of 51.4 % in terms of the prevalence and diversity of GI parasites among cattle. Meanwhile, cattle from Ganemulla remain isolated from the above cluster (Figure
Ordination of the study sites based on PCO1 and PCO2 scores of PCO analysis based on the prevalence of GI parasitic infections among cattle.
Meanwhile, both PC1 (84.1 %) and PC2 (15.9 %) axes of the Principal Coordinates (PCO) that accounted for the total variation (100%) of the GI parasite prevalence among the studied cattle population suggested the emergence of two major clusters as Kelaniya and Welisara together, while Ganemulla remained isolated, confirming the above observations (Figure
Further the radiating axes from the center of the Distance-Based Redundancy Analysis (dbRDA) plot clearly denoted that the cattle in Welisara area are dominated by the prevalence of Coccidia,
dbRDA plot depicting spatial variation of cattle belonging to different study sites based on the prevalence of GI parasites.
As denoted by the General Linear Modelling (GLM), the treatment status, spatial location, age, gender, and type of cattle were recognized as significant parameters that affected the incidence of GI parasites among cattle. Further, the combined effects of treatment status, spatial location, age, and gender were also significantly influencing the GI parasitic infection rates in cattle as interactive effects (
Control of gastrointestinal parasitic infections in animals requires a comprehensive knowledge of the disease epidemiology and understanding of the pasture management, farm management practices, and agroclimatic conditions such as temperature and rainfall [
During this study, parasitic stages of five different parasites were detected in the fecal samples. The identified parasitic stages were eggs of hookworms (
The literature states that nematode infections and coccidial infections in cattle are considered highly parasitic if they exceed ≥500 eggs per gram (epg) and a count of ≥5000 oocysts per gram of feces, respectively [
It is interesting to note that coccidian parasites were the only abundant parasite identified from treated farms. The reason for this deviation may be due to the development of a higher resistance of Coccidia against the standard treatment protocol for cattle at 21-day, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month intervals, respectively, with a standard mixture of Albendazole and Fenbendazole based on the body mass. Most farmers (n=100) in this study were registered under the Veterinary Investigation Centre and reared cattle in household farms. Therefore, restrictions in open grazing and proper management practices may be the reason for low prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites among treated cattle. Their control is often achieved by prophylactic use of anthelmintic treatments.
The results of this study indicated that the highest percentage of parasitic infections accounting for 46.67% (n=14) was from nontreated cattle. The statistical analysis indicated that the treatment status has significantly influenced the gastrointestinal parasitic infections (
However, most of the cattle in nontreated farms were open grazing animals and they were almost never treated for any GI infections. Grazing often encourages entering of different parasitic stages into the digestive tract of cattle through oral ingestion [
When using fecal egg counts, there are some limitations to determining the significance of the prevalence of flukes. The number of parasitic eggs per gram of feces is influenced by the fecal consistency, total amount of feces produced, and time of the day feces were collected. When the feces are dried, the parasitic eggs within the feces will be more concentrated.
The severity of gastrointestinal parasitic infections can be due to the vulnerability of animals to internal parasites and the poor immunity. The prevalence rate and clinical diseases may vary, based on different environmental factors in different areas. The high prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes and coccidian oocysts has been reported in tropical regions including Sri Lanka, with prevalence rates ranging from 20 to 96% [
During this study the prevalence of parasitic infections was higher in buffaloes than cows. Some previous studies have indicated more than 40% prevalence of GI parasites among buffaloes compared to that of cows [
Overall, sex-wise prevalence of GI parasites was higher in males when compared to that of females among both cows and buffaloes. The higher percentages of infection in males cannot be explained exactly, but it might be due to the neglected attitude of the farmers toward the management of male animals since many of the farms target milk production thereby focusing more on the health of females. These findings are in agreement with several other studies from different corners of the world [
According to Pfukenyi et al. [
A significantly higher proportion of calves were infected with Coccidia than other age groups. This may be due to the fact that high humidity and moderate temperature facilitate the survival and sporulation of the oocysts. As their immunity is also lower than the adult cattle, calves may be more susceptible to coccidian infections [
The highest GI infection rate (31.43%) was observed in Kelaniya, followed by Welisara (9.32%). According to the distribution pattern, amphistomes were observed from the cattle, which were at Kelaniya, while
Overall, the present investigation indicated that the treatment status, age, gender, and spatial location were significantly influencing the gastrointestinal parasitic infections among cattle in the selected farms located in Gampaha District of Sri Lanka. This survey also highlights how the deworming and management practices of cattle affect the prevalence of parasitic infections. Therefore, periodical monitoring of the prevalence of GI parasites among farm animals is essential, in order to achieve the expected goals in deworming activities, rational use of anthelminthic drugs, and proper farm management.
Hookworms (
The collected data will be kept confidential. Data will not be shared in any of the sources.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Nayana Gunathilaka contributed to designing of the research, supervision of the research work, and writing of the manuscript. Dimuthu Niroshana contributed to conducting laboratory experiments. Deepika Amarasinghe contributed in sample identification, supervision of research work, and writing of the manuscript. Lahiru Udayanga contributed to statistical analysis and writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
All staff at the Veterinary Investigation Centre, Welisara, Ragama, Sri Lanka, and owners of the selected farms for the present study are greatly acknowledged. The authors would also like to acknowledge the technical staff of the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, and Department of Zoology and Environment Management, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.