Farm system distribution of gastrointestinal and haemoparasites of pigs within Makurdi metropolis

Abstract

Parasitic diseases remain a major constraint to pig production, causing high morbidity and mortality rates, reduction in feed conversion ratio and weight gain, as well as compromising the reproductive performance of infected animals. The prevalence of parasites is considerably influenced by the type of husbandry system practiced. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence and comparison of gastrointestinal and haemoparasites of pigs reared within Makurdi metropolis under intensive and extensive management systems. A total of 209 blood and 209 faecal samples were collected from both intensive and extensively reared pigs of different breeds and analyzed. Thin blood smear technique was used for haemoparasites screening while simple flotation and sedimentation techniques were applied for faecal analysis, after which the data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics for prevalence determination. Five different gastrointestinal parasites, namely Strongyles, Trichuris suis, Taenia solium, Balantidium coli and Isospora species, and three haemoparasites, namely Babesia species, Anaplasma spp and Eperythrozoon suis were observed; with Strongyles and Babesia species seen as the most prevalent parasites in the study area. The gastrointestinal and haemoparasites prevalences were higher in extensively reared pigs (93.33% and 48% respectively) compared to 53.73% and 33.58% respectively in intensive system. The study has established the prevalence of certain gastrointestinal and haemoparasite species, and the effect of management system on the prevalence of these parasites within Makurdi metropolis. The extensive system of management has been seen to favour the prevalence of the parasites.

Keywords: Gastrointestinal Parasites, Haemoparasites, Makurdi, Management system, Pigs, Prevalence