Gastrointestinal parasitism is one of the major health problems affecting productivity of small
ruminants worldwide. A dry season study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of
Strongyle ova in goats and
their faecal egg counts, as well as to compare different faecal culture methods for larval counts and identification. Out
of 200 faecal samples examined, 114 were from male and 86 from female goats. An overall prevalence of 42(21%)
for
Strongyle ova was observed with a mean EPG of 91.67 ± 6.12. The prevalence was higher in the male 26(22.8%)
than in female 16(18.6%) with mean EPG of 90.38 ± 7.35 and 93.75 ± 11.06 respectively (p > 0.05). It was also
higher in adults 38(22.22%) compared with the young 4(13.79%). All positive goats were of the Sahelian breed. No
significant difference (p > 0.05%) was observed between sexes and age but a significant difference (p < 0.05) was
observed between breeds. The infection was higher from samples collected in the abattoir 36 (25.35%) compared
with 6(18.75%) in Mairi Village and none was positive from the University of Maiduguri Farm. A significant
difference (p<0.05) was thus observed between locations. Only
Strongyle ova was seen throughout the study and on
subjection of the positive samples to larval recovery,
Oesophagostomum columbianum
was the only larva recovered.
The test tube method yielded the highest larval recovery with mean larval count of 9.14 ± 0.72 (p<0.05), compared
with bottle with no charcoal; bottle with charcoal and Baermann’s techniques.
