Abstract
BackgroundA longitudinal prospective study was conducted from October 2017 to April 2018 on calf diarrhea and coccidiosis in dairy farms in Bahir Dar, North West Ethiopia with the objectives of determining the incidence of calf diarrhea and calf coccidiosis from diarrheic calves, assessing the major risk factors associated with calf diarrhea and coccidiosis and identifying the existing Eimeria species. A total of 237 calves, 86 calves from 52 smallholder dairy farms and 151 calves from 8 large dairy farms, were used for this study. Fresh fecal samples were collected from 86 diarrheic calves for identification of Eimeria species.ResultsOverall incidences of calf diarrhea and coccidiosis found in this study were 33.5 and 20.1%, respectively. In total, 19 potential risk factors were investigated for their association with calf diarrhea and coccidiosis from diarrheic calves using Cox regression. Age of calf (HR = 2.057, P = .002), body condition (HR = 1.802, P < .001), house condition (HR = 2.072, P = .004) and age at first colostrum feeding time (HR = 2.107, P = .002) were found significantly (P < 0.05) associated with the risk of diarrhea by multivariate Cox regression. Among the risk factors tested, age (HR = 13.36, P < .001) and sex of calves (HR = 3.500, P = .020) were found significantly (P < 0.05) associated with coccidiosis by multivariate Cox regression. A total of nine Eimeria species were identified. E. bovis (28.6%), E. zuernii (19.0%) and E. auburnensis (14.3%) were the most common Eimeria species encountered.ConclusionThe incidence of calf diarrhea and coccidiosis was high in the dairy herds in North West Ethiopia. Therefore, sound dairy calf management practices are needed to mitigate risk factors for calf diarrhea and coccidiosis with a view to reducing the incidence of calf diarrhea and coccidiosis in Ethiopian dairy farms.
Highlights
Ethiopia possesses the largest livestock population in Africa, which is currently estimated to be 59.5 million cattle including 9.6% under 6 months of age and 8.4% between 6 month and 1 year [1]
A total of 237 calves (198 crossbreed and 39 local; 128 males and 109 females) were monitored for 6 months to determine the incidence of calf diarrhea and coccidiosis from the 118 selected dairy farms (110 small holder and 8 relatively large)
The present longitudinal prospective study revealed that calf-months at risk of diarrhea and coccidiosis were 33.5 and 20.1%, respectively (Table 1)
Summary
Ethiopia possesses the largest livestock population in Africa, which is currently estimated to be 59.5 million cattle including 9.6% under 6 months of age and 8.4% between 6 month and 1 year [1]. Livestock accounts for 15–17% of total GDP and 35–49% of Despite the largest livestock population in Ethiopia, livestock diseases are the major constraints to productivity and production causing economic losses to dairy producers in Ethiopia [3, 4]. Eimeria species are the most important protozoan parasites causing calf coccidiosis and affecting calves all Tamrat et al Irish Veterinary Journal (2020) 73:14 over the world and are usually most common and important in calves younger than 1 year old [9, 10]. The result is a marked reduction in feed efficiency, weight loss and diarrhea This delays heifer age at first calving reducing dairy industry profits [12,13,14,15,16]. Fresh fecal samples were collected from 86 diarrheic calves for identification of Eimeria species
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