Authors : S.O. Okaiyeto , L.B. Tekdek , A.K.B. Sackey and O.J. Ajanusi
Abstract: A survey of the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in nomadic sheep was conducted during the period of February to October 2002. Data were gathered from 28 flocks of sheep with a total of 101Yankassa sheep in 8 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Northern Nigeria. High prevalence rate was observed in all the LGAs, Igabi (94.0%), Kagarko (100.0%), Birnin Gwari (100.0%), Doka Keffi (100.0%), Lapai (83.0%) Tafa (100.0%) and Doguwa (80.0%) except Kankiya which had 50%. The mean helminth prevalence rates according to their species were Haemonchus contortus 49.9%, Cooperia curtecie 39.6%, Oesophagostomum sp. 14.9% and Trichostrongylus sp. 1.9%. Doka, LGA in Nasarawa State had the highest (66.7%) prevalence rate for H. contortus with the lowest (20%) obtained from Kankiya LGA. Cooperia curtecie had the highest (100%) mean prevalence rate in Kangarko LGA of Kaduna State while Birnin Gwari LGA of the same State recorded the lowest mean prevalence (13.4%). The mean prevalence for Oesophagostomum sp. was low, 30.0% was the highest value observed in Kankiya LGA of Katsina state, the lowest value(10.0%) was observed in Doguwa LGA of Kano state. Trichostrongylus sp. has the lowest mean prevalence (6.6%) and was observed only in Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna state. Mixed infection constituted substantial (70.3%) proportion of all gastrointestinal nematode infection in all the sampled areas. The frequency of occurrence of single infection is 17.4%, double infections 39.5% triple infections 37.9% and quadruple infections 5.8%. Most of the animals examined had low to moderate infection, suggesting that the infections were probably at sub-clinical level.
S.O. Okaiyeto , L.B. Tekdek , A.K.B. Sackey and O.J. Ajanusi , 2008. A Survey of Gastrointestinal Parasites of Nomadic Sheep in Eight Local Government Areas of Northern Nigeria. Research Journal of Animal Sciences, 2: 92-95.