Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in dry season on dairy cattle at Holeta Agricultural Research Center Dairy Farm, Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross sectional study was carried out in Holeta Agricultural Research Center Dairy Farm, Oromia 
Regional State, Ethiopia to determine the status of gastrointestinal (GI) parasites on dairy cattle, reveal 
the level of severity of GI parasites on the basis of mean egg per gram of faces (epg) count through 
McMaster technique and identify the different gastrointestinal parasites dominated by flotation and 
sedimentation techniques. A total of 206 faecal samples were collected from purposively selected cows, 
bulls and heifers. The overall prevalence of GI parasites was found to be 87.9%. The average epg was 
found to be 179.8, indicating light level of parasite infection. The sex-wise prevalence revealed 85.0 and 
15.0% in female and male animals, respectively. The qualitative faecal examination techniques, showed 
a prevalence of coccidia (56.3%), Fasciola spp. (26.2%), Paramphistomum spp. (10.2%), Bunostomum 
spp. (8.7%), Oesophagostomum spp. (8.3%), and Tricuris spp. (1.5%). With statistically significant 
difference (p<0.05), the prevalence was higher in milking cow (28.72%) than the rest of the animal 
categories and the lowest prevalence was observed on dry cow (12.15%). There was concurrent 
infection with two and more than two different GIT parasites with respective prevalence of 38.3 and 
25.2%. The finding of the present study clearly suggests that GI parasites were higher in the farm with 
low severity, which contributes reduction in productivity. Hence, further and strengthened parasite 
control intervention is highly recommended taking into account the seasonality of parasite burden.