Abattoir-Based Study Of The Susceptibility Of Two Naturally Infected Breeds Of Goat To Haemonchus Contortus In Nsukka Area Of Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the susceptibility of two indigenous breeds of goat – the Red Sokoto (RS) and the West African Dwarf (WAD) goats to Haemonchus contortus infection by using the abomasal worm burden and the worm’s uterine egg count as the indices. One hundred (100) abomasa each from the RS and WAD slaughter goats were purchased from Nsukka Urban abattoir and Ibagwa rural abattoir for examination between October 2002 and Janaury 2003. The WAD goats had a significantly higher worm burden (7286) than the Red Sokoto goats (4675) (P<0.01). The female-male ratio of the worms showed the RS goats with a higher female population ratio of 1:0:90 as against the 1:1:03 for WAD goats. 240 adult female worms, which were randomly selected from each breed for the uterine egg count showed that the average uterine egg count was significantly higher in WAD goats (748.37) than in RS goats (620.50) (P<0.01). Both the worm and egg burdens exhibited a significant steady drop in both breeds from October 2002 to January 2003 (P<0.001). It is suggestive from this study that RS goats may be less susceptible to naturally acquired Haemonchus contortus infection than WAD goats .