Sheep and goat response to Trichostrongylus colubriformis infection based on egg output and worm burden.

Abstract

This study was aimed to assess the performance of Trichostrongylus colubriformis and the host's responses to regulate egg outputs and worm burden. Infective larva (L3) was prepared by culturing egg of the worms harvested from the intestine of slaughtered sheep. Following this, L3 was maintained in the donor sheep to get adequate quantity of it for experimental trials. A complete randomized block design was used by considering host as blocking factor. Twenty eight small ruminants (sheep = 14) and (goat = 14) were employed in such a way that half of them were drenched with 10,000 T. colubriformis L3 and the remaining halves were controls. Faecal egg count (FEC) was recorded from the initial period (day-zero) up to day-56. At the end of experiment, animals were euthanized in humane manner, worms were recovered from the intestines, counted, and burden was estimated. FEC at various days post infection was insignificantly (P > 0.05) higher in goats than in sheep. The worm burden was significantly (P = 0.040) higher in infected goat than in infected sheep despite they were given equal dose of L3. In conclusion, relatively lower worm burden under natural conditions in goat may be due to their feeding behavior rather than their inherent resistance.