Study on Assessment of Foreign Body in Rumen and Reticulum of Cattle Come from Different Market Slaughtered at Holeta Municipal Abattoir

Abstract

Ingestion of indigestible foreign bodies by ruminants is becoming a common worldwide problem which is the associated with a shortage of feed as well as increased pollution of grazing lands with indigestible materials. Cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017 on 384 ruminants slaughtered at Holeta municipal abattoir and Elfora export abattoir with the objective to determine the prevalence and type of indigestible foreign body in rumen and reticulum of ruminants in association with hypothetical risk factors. Simple random sampling technique was used for selecting the study animals which were ruminants brought from various localities to Holeta municipal abattoir and Elfora export abattoir. Out of 384 ruminants (cattle 128, goat 128, sheep 128) examined for the presence of indigestible foreign bodies, 81 (21.1%) animals were found positive for one or more indigestible foreign bodies in their rumen or reticulum or both . The prevalence of foreign bodies was insignificant between species (p>0.05). Significantly highest prevalence was observed in adult and thin body condition of ruminants than young and medium and good body condition. Plastic material was the most commonly encountered (38.3%) foreign material in all study animals, followed by hair and hide, mixed, rope, clothes, wood strip and metals. In all species the proportion of indigestible foreign body in rumen (70.4%) were significantly higher than reticulum (18.52%) and both rumen and reticulum (11.11%). This study revealed ingestion of different types of indigestible foreign bodies by ruminants in the study area which may pose serious health problem for free grazing ruminant and negatively affect their overall productivity and production. This strongly calls for concerned stakeholders to design and implement appropriate waste disposal practice and thereby reduces the chance of ingesting foreign bodies. Keywords: Export Abattoir, Foreign Bodies, Municipal Abattoir, Reticulum, Rumen, Ruminants, DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-24-03 Publication date: December 31 st 2020