Prevalence and Intensity of Ovine Gastrointestinal Nematodes in Balochistan, Pakistan.

An epidemiological study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and intensity of gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep in slaughter house at Quetta, Balochistan, from April 2011 to March 2012. A total of 960 gastrointestinal tract samples (80 per month) of sheep were examined during the study period. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal nematode was 49.47% with the intensity of 516.63 in sheep. The higher monthly prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes was observed during April (65%) followed by November (62.5%) and October (57.5%). Statistically there was significant differences (P<0.05) amongst months. The genus-wise intensity among gastrointestinal nematodes was presented higher by Haemonchus (213.05), followed by Trichostrongylus (137.05), Trichuris (90.1), Ostertagia (44.21) and Nematodirus (32.21). Breed-wise prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes was higher in Balochi (50.20%) than the Harnai breed (48.75%). While, sex-wise prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes was higher in female (56.87%) as compared to the male (42.08%). Age-wise prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep was higher in the age group of < 1 year (60.83%) followed >2 years (43.33%) and 1-2 years (41.25%). Statistically there was no significant difference P > 0.05 between breeds, sex and age groups. Five genera of gastrointestinal nematode parasites were recovered during study period. Among these Haemonchus was the highest (71.36%) prevalent followed by Trichostrongylus (58.49%), Trichuris (28.84%), Ostertagia (17.26%) and Nematodirus (9.47%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]