Vol. 11, Special Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Altaf Ahmad Reshi, Hidayatullah Tak, KH Bulbul and ZA Wani

Abstract:
Present study was carried from December 2020 to November 2021 in the division of Kashmir with an aim to determine the effect of season, sex, age and managemental factors for the occurrence of Eimeria in cattle. A total of 1198 faecal samples were examined for the presence of Eimeria oocysts and 589 (49.16%) were found to be positive. A significant association was found between prevalence of Eimeria and season (χ2 value = 57.386, p<0.01). The highest prevalence was recorded in spring (61.00%) followed by autumn (57.74%), summer (41.10%) and winter (35.25%). The monthly highest prevalence was however observed in September (67.34%) followed by October (62.5%) and May (62.26%) and least in January (28.39%). Calves of age less than one year were harboring higher prevalence (60.10%) than other age groups, 1-3 years (52.17%), 3-5 years (43.09%), more than 5 years (34.86%) and the difference was found to be statistically highly significant (χ2 value = 40.977, p<0.01). The effect of sex however on the prevalence was found to be relatively non-significant (χ2 value = 7.275). Among the various managemental factors type of floor, feeding pattern herd size was found to have significant impact on prevalence of Eimeria in cattle. Highest mean parasitic load was found during autumn season and in animals of age less than one year.