Isolation of Common Calves Diarrhoea Causing Bacterial and Protozoal Enteropathogen and Associated Risk Factors from the Dairy Farms in and Around Assela Town Arsi Zone, Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia

Abstract

Calf morbidity and mortality resulted from diarrhea hinder the replacement of older cows by calves and lower economic benefit from the secretor in Ethiopia. Bacterial and Protozoal infectious disease were the main causes of calves’ diarrhea in dairy farms. The aim of the current study was conducted to isolate calf’s diarrhea causing Bacterial and Protozoal infection and asses the risk factors associated with it in and around the Assela town. Accordingly, 26 small, medium, and large-scale dairy farms were purposively selected for collection of faecal and serum samples and risk factors related information diarrhoeic calves. From 108 calves, 2 × 10 g of feces and 10 mL of jugular blood from each calf were collected. Bacterial culturing and serodiagnosis and protozoal microscopic examination were conducted. From 26 small, medium, and large dairy farms in the Assela region were investigated for the percentage of significant enteropathogens in diarrhoeal calves over six months. They contained proportions of E. coli, Eimeria, Cryptosporidium, Giardia and Salmonella Typhimurium of 55 (50.9%), 42 (38.9%), 23, 8 (7.4%) and 3‘(2.8%), respectively. All risk factors assessed had equal impact on the occurrence of Enteropathogen hence there was no significant difference among them (P-value > 0.05). the high calf Diarrhea causing Enteropathogen rates established in this study together with the alarming predictors of calf morbidity entail attention by the concerning bodies on proper management and improved health care to reduce the incidence of Calves diarrhea.