Prevalence and seasonal occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites in small ruminants of coastal areas of Tamil Nadu

The study was carried out from October 2013 to September 2014 in both organised and small sheep and goat farms of coastal areas viz. Cuddalore, Nagapattinam of Tamil Nadu, India. The objective of the present study is to determine the prevalence and seasonal variation of gastrointestinal parasites in small ruminants. A total of 1356 faecal samples (63 from goat and 50 from sheep per month) were collected and subjected for analysis. Among the analysed samples 61.50% were positive for endoparasites. The prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was higher in sheep (66.33%) than in goats (57.67%). The endoparasites found in small ruminants were nematodes, cestodes and trematodes. The nematode Haemonchus sp was found to be predominant in both sheep and goat. The results of season wise analysis indicates that the overall infection percentage was higher in rainy season (68.36%) followed by winter (60.84%) than in summer (55.30%).