Vol. 11, Special Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Rahul Kumar Meena, C P Swarnkar, Bhavana Rathore, Priyanka Saini and Abhishek Kumar Meena

Abstract:
A study was conducted to assess the prevalence of anthelmintic resistance in gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) of goats reared by farmers in semi-arid Rajasthan. From July to December 2021, a total of 28 flocks from five villages (Jaipur) were tested through in-vivo faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) and in-vitro egg hatch assay (EHA). For FECRT, the test anthelmintics used were fenbendazole (@ 5.0 mg/kg body weight), levamisole (@ 7.5 mg/kg body weight) and closantel (@ 10.0 mg/kg body weight). On FECRT, the magnitude of reduction in the faecal egg counts exhibited prevalence of strains of GINs resistant to fenbendazole and levamisole in 100% of the flocks tested. Against closantel, 100% efficacy was observed against predominant Haemonchus contortus; however, for combined species of GINs 71.43% of flocks showed less than 95% efficacy. On EHA, among 28 flocks, benzimidazole resistant strains of strongyle worms were observed in 27 flocks (96.43%). A high agreement (96.42%) was observed between results from FECRT and EHA for benzimdazole resistance. It was inferred that small ruminant producers and veterinarians can no longer rely solely on benzimidazole and Imidazothiazole group of anthelmintics for effective parasite control and to preserve the drugs that are still effective, all must change their attitudes and approaches to parasite control.