Efficacy of Various Combinations of Anthelmintics against Gastro-intestinal Nematodes in Naturally Infected Goats at an Organized Goat Farm in Hisar

The efficacy of various combinations of anthelmintics against gastrointestinal nematodes in goats at an organized farm was determined using faecal egg count reduction test. Forty eight goats with eggs per gram of more than 150 were divided into four groups (groups I, II, III and IV) of 12 goats each. Groups I, II and III were administered fenbendazole+morantel, morantel+levamisole and levamisole+fenbendazole, respectively. Dose rates and routes of fenbendazole, morantel and levamisole were @ 10mg/kg b.wt. orally, 20mg/kg b.wt orally and 12mg/kg b.wt. subcutaneously, respectively. Group IV served as untreated control. Faecal egg count reduction percentages in groups I, II and III were 99.52, 99.04 and 99.68%, respectively on 13th day post-treatment. Coproculture from pre-treatment faecal culture revealed the predominance of Haemonchus contortus whereas no larvae were recovered from post-treatment faecal culture of all the three groups. Previously, three months ago, in October, 2011 efficacy of fenbendazole, morantel and levamisole was found to be 66.06, 99.10 and 98.19%, respectively and identification of infective larvae from both preand post-treatment faecal culture revealed the predominance of H. contortus. Thus, all the three anthelmintic combinations were more effective particularly against resistant H. contortus than when these drugs were administered separately, as no larvae were recovered in post-treatment faecel cultures of all the three anthelmintic combinations,.