Prevalence Of Caprine Strongyle Infection And The Diagnostic Efficacy Of Some Media For Faecal Culture And Nematode Larval Recovery From Goat Faeces

Abstract

The prevalence of caprine strongyle infections and the diagnostic efficacy of some culture media in supporting the recovery of strongyle larvae were evaluated using 840 faecal sampes collected from goats during slaughter at Maiduguri Metropolitan abattoir. Faecal examination conducted by the modfied McMaster technique revealed that outof 840 goats examined, 708 (83.8 %) shedded strongyle eggs in their faeces. The prevalence of infection was significantly (P < 005) higher among female, young and diarrhoeic goats than their corresponding male, adult and non-diarrheic counterparts. Faecal culture and larval recovery using the test tube filter paper technique revealedthat the direct culture o faecal samples without any additional culture medium supported the recovery of the largest number of nematode infecve larvae from the faeces. When this was used as a standard (100% egg hatch or 0% reduction in egg hatch), larval recovery was highest (P<0.05) from goat faeces (98.4 %) folowed respectively by sheep faeces (57.7 %), cow faeces (52.4 %), horse faeces (42.3 %) and so (18.6 %) as culture media. The results therefore indicatethe superor diagnostic quality o goat faeces as a culture medium for the recovery of infective nematode stages in goat faeces.

Keywords: Strongyle infection, Faecal culture media, Culture media Efficacy, Goat.

Animal Research International Vol. 3 (1) 2006 pp. 419-421