| Livestock Research for Rural Development 28 (11) 2016 | Guide for preparation of papers | LRRD Newsletter | Citation of this paper |
A cross-sectional study was conducted with the aim of identifying and estimating the prevalence of ecto-parasites in small ruminants in and around Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center. A total of 400 small ruminants (244 Caprine and 156 Ovine) were sampled and examined for the presence of ecto-parasites.
External parasites were found with overall prevalence of 148 (37.0 %) in which caprine and ovine were infested with the prevalence of 34.8% and 40.4%, respectively. Proportion of ectoparasite in descending order were 17.2% ticks, 11.5% mite, 8% lice 7.2% fleas and 0.5% keds. In total about 12 ectoparasites were recorded up at genus level. In the present study, there was no statistically significant association between the prevalence of ectoparasites and the species, sex, and age of small ruminants. However, ectoparasite infestation was significantly (p<0.05) higher in poor body condition animals than the other categories. Overall, there was high ectoparasites prevalence in the study area which could hamper small ruminants’ production. Hence, attention should be given to the problem and appropriate disease mitigation should be put in place to improve the output from these animals.
Key words: caprine, fleas, infestation, keds, lice, mite, ovine, tick
In Ethiopia, agriculture contributes to the livelihood of an estimated 80 percent of the rural population and accounts for 45% of the gross domestic production and 85% of the export earnings (Tefera and Abebe 2007). Livestock production in Ethiopia’s agricultural economy is an important sector providing a significant contribution to gross domestic and export products and raw materials for industries. This is because of the country has the largest livestock number in Africa, which include over 53.3 million cattle, 25.5 million sheep and 22.7 million goats (CSA 2011).
Small ruminants have high fertility, short generation interval and even high adaptation in harsh environment. Asfaw et al (1997) and (Minjauw and McLeod 2003)describe small ruminants as a living saving bank which serves as insurance in a period of economic distress and crop failure In addition, hide and skin account for 12 to 16% of the total export in Ethiopia and small ruminants contribute a significant portion of these exports (Mahmud 2000).
Even though, small ruminants are important component of the different farming system in the country, their contribution to the economy is far below from the expected potential (Zewdu 2005).This is due to the fact that small ruminants’ production is confronted by multitude of factors such as disease, poor management and malnutrition which have been obstacle against the full utilization of this resource (FAO 2005). Among the diseases, ecto-parasite infestation has a variety of direct and indirect effects on the sheep and goat production.
The external parasites which cause noticeable lesions in the skin coat include ticks, lice, fleas, mange mites and keds. Ectoprasites are important because of their disease transmission ability, blood feeding habit and skin damage in most of the livestock population (Tadesse et al 2011). They can reduce production, since infested livestock cannot be efficiently managed to realize optimum production levels (Ofukwn and Akwuobu 2010). Ticks can cause directly debilitating to small ruminants causing mechanical damage and it may cause anemia, toxicity and paralysis in severe infestation (Walker et al 2003). In Ethiopia tick and tick born disease ranked third after trypanosomiasis and endoparasitism in causing economic loss (Yacob et al 2008a).
Lice also cause cutaneous and systemic effect on hosts, including dermatitis and anemia in case of high infestation, a disturbance caused by lice may also result in lethargy and loss of weight gain (Urquart et al 1996). Other than lice ectoparasites like flea infestations also may cause pruritus, alopecia, excoriation and self-wounding (Wall and Shearer 2001). On the other hand mite infestation results in severe dermatitis known as mange. Mite also causes excoriation and lice infestation in the body of the animal, which in turn affect the quality of hide and skin greatly (Enquebaher and Etsay 2010).
Although various ectoparasite infestation have been frequently reported in different part of Ethiopia sufficiently affecting the health, production and economy of the country at large (Yacob et al 2008c; Jemere et al 2011), there is insufficient information regarding the prevalence of ectoparasites in the south-central part of the country, where sheep and goats are important asset to the farmers and pastoral community. As a result it is imperative to assess the status of the ectoparasites infestation. Therefore, the present study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of external parasite in small ruminants in and around Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center.
Adami Tulu is located in central Rift valley of Ethiopia at 167km south of Addis Ababa. The district which is made up of 43 keels lies at latitude of 7.58šN and 38.43šE longitudes. Its agro-ecological zone is semi-arid and sub-humid in which 90% of the area is lowland while the remaining 10% is intermediate with altitude ranges from 1500-2000 meter above sea level. The mean annual rainfall ranges from 750-1000mm and the distribution is highly variable between and within years. The mean annual temperature ranges from 22-280C. Mixed crop-livestock farming system characterizes the agriculture of the district (ATARC 1998). The total livestock population of the district is 21, 8099 cattle, 26, 949 sheep, 13, 0549 goats, 25, 982 equines and 14, 3818 poultry (ATWADB 2013).
The study was conducted on local breed small ruminants raised under semi-intensive and backyard farming systems in the study areas.
A cross sectional study was conducted from November 2014 to April 2015 in and around Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center area to estimate the ecto-parasites prevalence in the study area. The explanatory variables considered were species, age, and sex and body condition of the animal as risk factors.
The required sample size for the study was determined with 5% desired level of precision and 95% confidence interval. Since there was no record of previous prevalence, assumption of 50% expected prevalence of ectoparasites in small ruminants was considered. By substituting the value in the below formula by (Thrusfield, 2005); the sample size of 384 animals were estimated.
|
Where; n= -required sample size, Pexp-Expected prevalence, d- desired absolute precision.
A totally 400 animal were randomly sampled and examined from four purposively selected peasant associations and one goat farm in the study.
The sampled animals were inspected for the presence of any external parasite including ticks, lice, fleas, mite and keds. Examination for ecto-parasites was performed by multiple fleeces partition in the direction opposite to that in which hair or wool normally rests. Visual inspection for ectoparasites was employed all over the animal body including perineum, ears and inters digital space. The body condition of the examined animals were registered as good, medium and poor based on the criteria obtained from the Nicholson and Butterworth (1996), with some modification. The age of the sheep and goats were determined as young, adult and old based on the description by Girma and Alemu (2008).
Ectoparasites like ticks, lice, fleas and ked were collected from the animal body, whereas skin scraping for mite was undergone and processed according to the method described by Wall and Shearer (2001). The tick, lice and flea samples were preserved in 70% alcohol in universal bottles according to Taylor et al. (2007), until subsequent laboratory examination after registering the information including address, animal species, sex, and age and body condition score. The collected ectoparasite samples were differentiated at genus level by stereomicroscope and the skins scrap was treated by 10% KOH and examined under compound microscope for identification of mites as preset criteria (Wall and Shearer 2001). The identification of tick species was employed based on walker et al (2003) description, whereas lice, fleas and mites identification was according to the description by Wall and shearer (2001) and Taylor et al. (2007).
The data recorded was entered into Microsoft excel data base system. Then the data was transferred to SPSS version 20 software program for analysis. Descriptive statistics including frequency and percentage was computed. In addition, the association of explanatory variables with the outcome variable (ectoparasite prevalence) was determined using chi-square (χ2) test. The confidence interval was set at 95% and p-value of less than 0.05 as significant association indicator.
The overall prevalence of ectoparasites in the present study was 37% (148/400), from which 17.2% ticks, 11.5% mite, 8% lice, 7.2% flea and 0.5 % keds were recorded in descending order within selected study areas (Figure.1 and Table 2). Abinegarmama peasant association has the highest (34.8%) tick prevalence while ATARC Goat Farm and Abinegarmama peasant has the maximum lice and flea’s prevalence of 16.7%. Concerning mite and keds prevalence Bochessa peasant associations has the highest with 17.7%and 3.2% prevalence, respectively (Figure 1).
 |
| Figure 1. Prevalence of ectoparasites in the four peasant associations and in one a goat farm. |
Most of the small ruminants in the present study were infested with a single ectoparasite 31.5% (126/400), while mixed infestation was only 5.5% (22/400). However, there was no statistical significant variation (p=0.108) between the two species of animals in the level of ectoparasites infestation (Table 1).
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Table 1. Single and mixed infestation in small ruminants, number in case and prevalence (%). |
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|
Ectoparasites |
Total |
Ovine (N=156) |
Caprine (N=244) |
χ2(p) |
|
Single |
126 (31.5) |
57 (36.5) |
69 (28.3) |
4.460 (0.108 |
|
Mixed |
22 (5.5) |
6 (3.8) |
16 (6.6) |
|
|
Overall |
148 (37.0) |
63 (40.4) |
85 (34.8) |
|
|
N = number of animal examined |
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Caprine and Ovine were infested with prevalence of 34.8% and 40.4%, respectively. In Ovine the overall prevalence of tick (18.6%) and mite (13.5%) were higher than caprine (16.4%) and (10.2%) respectively, while prevalence of lice (8.2%) and flea (8.6%) in caprine were higher than in Ovine (7.7%) flea (5.1%), respectively. However, there was no statistical significant variation (p> 0.05) between the two species of small ruminants in the prevalence of ectoparasites spp (Table 2).
|
Table 2. The overall prevalence (%) of external parasites within the small ruminants. |
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|
External Parasites |
Total |
Ovine |
Caprine |
χ2 (p) |
|
Tick |
69 (17.2) |
29 (18.6) |
40 (16.4) |
0.332 (0.571) |
|
Lice |
32 (8.0) |
12 (7.7) |
20 (8.2) |
0.033 (0.856) |
|
Fleas |
29 (7.2) |
8 (5.1) |
21 (8.6) |
1.712 (0.191) |
|
Mite |
46 (11.5) |
21 (13.5) |
25 (10.2) |
0.967 (0.325) |
|
Keds |
2 (0.5 ) |
1 (0.64) |
1 (0.41) |
0.102 (0.749) |
|
Overall |
148 (37) |
63 (40.4) |
85 (34.8) |
148 (37) |
In Ovine, all ectoparasites had no significant association with respect to sex and age group. However, all ticks except Boophilus subgenus (p=0.28) were statistically significant in sheep with poor body condition score than the other categories. Linognathus lice and Psoroptes mites also had highly significant (p<0.05) prevalence in poor body conditioned sheep than the other body condition groups (Table 3).
In Caprine, ectoparasite prevalence had no significant association with respect to the sex and age of the goats. All ticks had significantly high prevalence in goats with poor body condition score than the other categories, except Boophilus subgenus. Likewise Linognathus lice, Ctenocephalides flea and Demodex mites had significantly greater prevalence in poor body condition goats than the other body condition groups (Table 4).
|
Table 3. Distribution of ectoparasite genus in Ovine based on sex, age and body condition scores; number of cases and prevalence (%) |
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|
Genus of |
Sex |
χ2(p) |
Age |
χ2(p) |
Body condition score |
χ2(p) |
|||||
|
Male |
Female |
Young |
Adult |
Old |
Poor |
Medium |
Good |
||||
|
Ambylomma |
9(9.9) |
6(3.9) |
1.818(0.18) |
3(11.1) |
5(4.1) |
7(7.4) |
4.595(0.10) |
11(26.8) |
4(8.2) |
0(0.0) |
16.71(0.00)* |
|
Hyalomma |
2(2.2) |
4(2.6) |
0.070(0.79) |
2(7.4) |
3(2.5) |
1(1.0) |
1.103(0.58) |
1(2.4) |
5(10.2) |
0(0.0) |
8.65(0.01)* |
|
Rhipicephalus |
4(4.4) |
6(3.9) |
0.056(0.81) |
6(22.2) |
1(0.8) |
3(3.2) |
2.406(0.30) |
7(17.1) |
3(6.1) |
0(0.0) |
9.69(0.01)* |
|
Boophilus |
2(2.2) |
2(1.3) |
0.069(0.79) |
2(7.4) |
1(0.8) |
1(1.0) |
0.114(0.95) |
2(4.9) |
2(4.1) |
0(0.0) |
2.50(0.28) |
|
Linognathus |
3(3.3) |
8(5.2) |
1.281(0.26 |
4(148) |
2(16.4) |
5(5.3) |
1.359(0.51) |
8(19.5) |
3(6.1) |
0(0.0) |
11.69(0.00)* |
|
Damilina |
0(0.0) |
1(0.6) |
0.629(0.43) |
0(0.0) |
0(0.0) |
1(1.0) |
2.708(0.26) |
1(2.4) |
0(0.0) |
0(0.0) |
3.22(0.20) |
|
Ctenocephalides |
0(0.0) |
7(4.6) |
5.663(0.02) |
2(7.4) |
2(16.4) |
3(3.2) |
1.112(0.57) |
4(9.7) |
3(6.1) |
0(0.0) |
4.81(0.09)* |
|
Melophagus |
1(1.1) |
0(0.0) |
1.302(0.25) |
0(0.0) |
0(0.0) |
1(1.1) |
2.823(0.24) |
1(2.4) |
0(0.0) |
0(0.0) |
2.33(0.31) |
|
Demodex |
3(3.3) |
3(2.0) |
0.104(0.75) |
5(18.5) |
1(0.8) |
0(0.0) |
0.054(0.97) |
4(9.7) |
2(4.1) |
0(0.0) |
5.13(0.08)* |
|
Chorioptes |
1(1.1) |
1(0.6) |
0.112(0.74) |
2(7.4) |
0(0.0) |
0(0.0) |
2.760(0.25) |
1(2.4) |
1(2.0) |
0(0.0) |
1.77(0.41) |
|
Psoroptes |
7(7.7) |
11(7.2) |
0.183(0.67) |
12(44.4) |
3(2.5) |
3(3.2) |
4.978(0.08) |
11(26.8) |
6(12.2) |
1(1.5) |
12.09(0.00)* |
|
Sarcoptes |
1(1.1) |
2(1.3) |
0.035(0.85) |
1(3.7) |
1(0.8) |
1(1.1) |
0.108(0.95) |
1(2.4) |
2(4.1) |
0(0.0) |
2.83(0.24) |
|
Overall |
33(13.5) |
51(20.9) |
|
39(15.9) |
19(7.8) |
26(10.7) |
|
52(21.3) |
31(12.7) |
1(0.4) |
|
|
N = is number of animal examined; *= Statistically significant |
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|
Table 4. Distribution of ectoparasite genus in caprine based on sex, age and body condition scores; number of cases and prevalence (%) |
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|
Genus of |
Sex |
χ2(P-value) |
Age |
χ2(p-value) |
BCS |
χ2(p-value) |
|||||
|
Male |
Female |
Young |
Adult |
Old |
Poor |
Medium |
Good |
||||
|
Ambylomma |
4(7.0) |
10(10.1) |
0.62(0.43) |
6(25) |
5(4.9) |
3(9.7) |
0.29(0.86) |
8(19.5) |
5(10.2%) |
1(1.5) |
11.96(0.00)* |
|
Hyalomma |
2(3.5) |
4(4.0) |
0.07(0.79) |
2(8.3) |
3(2.9) |
1(3.2) |
1.1(0.58) |
1(2.4) |
5(10.2%) |
0(0.0) |
8.65(0.01)* |
|
Rhipicephalus |
5(8.8) |
7(7.0) |
0.05(0.82) |
5(20.8) |
1(0.9) |
6(19.4) |
4.5(0.10) |
9(21.9) |
1(2.0%) |
2(3.0) |
18.29(0.00)* |
|
Boophilus |
4(7.0) |
3(3.0) |
1.06(0.30) |
2(8.3) |
1(0.9) |
4(12.9) |
3.3(0.19) |
3(7.3) |
3(6.1%) |
1(1.5) |
3.05(0.22) |
|
Linognathus |
8(14.0) |
11(11.1) |
0.11(0.74) |
8(33.3) |
4(3.9) |
7(22.6) |
1.3(0.52) |
15(36.6) |
4(8.2%) |
0(0.0) |
36.43(0.00)* |
|
Damilina |
0(0.0) |
1(1.0) |
0.63(0.43) |
0(0.0) |
0(0.0) |
1(3.2) |
2.7(0.23) |
1(2.4) |
0(0.0%) |
0(0.0) |
3.22(0.20) |
|
Ctenocephalide |
7(12.3) |
13(13.1) |
0.11(0.74) |
9(37.5) |
2(1.9) |
9(29) |
5.6(0.06)* |
13(31.7) |
5(10.2%) |
2(3.0) |
21.90(0.00)* |
|
Melophagus |
1(1.7) |
0(0.0) |
1.60(0.21) |
0(0.0) |
0(0.0) |
1(3.2) |
2.7(0.26) |
1(2.4) |
0(0.0%) |
0(0.0) |
3.22(0.20) |
|
Demodex |
4(7.0) |
11(11.1) |
0.95(0.33) |
6(25) |
5(4.9) |
4(12.9) |
0.054(0.97) |
11(26.8) |
4(8.2%) |
0(0.0) |
23.92(0.00)* |
|
Chorioptes |
1(1.7) |
1(1.0) |
0.11(0.734) |
2(8.3) |
0(0.0) |
0(0.0) |
2.7(0.25) |
1(2.4) |
1(2.4%) |
0(0.0) |
1.77(0.41) |
|
Psoroptes |
2(3.5) |
3(3.0) |
0.01(0.95) |
4(16.6) |
0(0.0) |
1(3.2) |
3.38(0.18) |
3(7.3) |
2(4.1%) |
0(0.0) |
5.32(0.07)* |
|
Sarcoptes |
1(1.7) |
2(2.0) |
0.04(0.85) |
1(4.2) |
1(0.9) |
1(3.2) |
0.11(0.95) |
1(2.4) |
2(4.1%) |
0(0.0) |
2.83(0.24) |
|
Overall |
39(25) |
65(41.7) |
|
45(28.8) |
22(14.1) |
38(24.4) |
|
68(43.6) |
32(20.5) |
6(3.8) |
|
|
BCS = Body condition score; * = Statistically significant; N = is number of animals examined |
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In the current study, the prevalence of ectoparasite in ovine and caprine were 40.4% and 34.8%, respectively (Table 2).This finding is in line with the report of Tesfaheywet and Muluneh (2012) who reported ectoparasite prevalence of 43.9 % in Ovine whereas the report of Tesfaye et al (2012) indicates similar ectoparasite prevalence of 34.9% in Caprine. However, the finding of the present study is less than the report of Jemere et al. (2011) who indicates the respective prevalence of ectoparasites in Ovine (99.38 %) and Caprine (96.92 %) in central part of Ethiopia. The variation of ectoparasites prevalence in different study areas could be due to differences in the management, agro-climate, seasons, health care and ectoparasite control practices in their respective study areas.
In the present study, even though there was no significant difference in the prevalence of ectoparasites in within the small ruminants, sheep had relatively higher ectoparasite (Table 2). Likewise, study in southern part of Ethiopia by Yacob et al (2008a) reported that Ovine was highly infested (68.7%) than Caprine (28.4%). This is probably due to their self grooming, licking, scratching, rubbing and browsing behavior of goats which could contribute for rapid ectoparasite elimination (Pegram et al 2004).
Even if, there is no statistically significant association between the prevalence of ectoparasites and the sex of small ruminants in the current study, the prevalence of lice, flea and mite were higher in female animal than the male animal (Table 3 and 4). Although, the exact cause of higher prevalence of ectoparasite in female animals cannot be explained, it can be hypothesized that some hormonal influences may be associated with this phenomenon. Lloyd (1983) reported that higher level of prolactin and progesterone hormones make the individuals more susceptible to any infection. Moreover, stresses of production; such as, pregnancy and lactation make the female animals more susceptible to these ectoparasites infection.
Tick infestation was the dominant ectoparasites in the current study with respective prevalence of 18.6 % and 16.4 % in sheep and goats (Table 2).This finding was in agreement with earlier study by Dawit et al (2012) and Mersha et al (2013), who have reported the predominance of ticks in Bahir Dar and East Wollega areas of the country, respectively. This is might be attributed to the fact that ticks are easier to detect when compared to fleas which jump frequently all over the host body and mange mites which are not visible to the naked eye. Relatively, the finding of Fufa et al (2012) was higher than the present study in which there was 80.3 % and 66.12 % prevalence of tick in sheep and goats, respectively.
The overall prevalence of lice was 7.7% in Ovine and 8.2% in Caprine in the current study(Table 2), which is higher than the observations made in southern Ethiopia with 1.3% in Ovine and 6.1 % in Caprine (Abebe et al 2011). However, the report by Tewodros et al (2012) with 54.6% and Tefera and Abebe (2007) with 39.8%, indicate higher prevalence of lice infestation than the current study. Similarly, Fantahun and Mohammed (2012) reported 54.6% prevalence of lice from northern part of Ethiopia. Linognatus was the dominant genera of lice identified in the present study with the prevalence of 7.1% and 7.8% in Ovine and Caprine, respectively, Lice infestation in both Ovine and Caprine was significantly (p<0.05) higher in poor body condition animals than other groups of body conditions. This could be due to the low immune response as a predisposing factor and/or the poor body condition could be the result of chronic ectoparasite infestation (James et al 2002).
Regarding flea infestation, there was no statistically considerable difference with in small ruminants in the present study (Table 2). Likewise, Tewodros et al (2012) reported no significant difference in the status of the flea’s infestation in sheep and goats with prevalence of 5.1% and 8.6%, respectively. According to the present study the prevalence of fleas has no statistically significant difference with respect to age groups. However, different researches from various parts of the country indicate significantly higher prevalence of flea infestation in younger animal than the adults (Yacob et al 2008b; Dawit et al 2012).
In the current findings, mange mites were the second highest examined ectoparasite next to tick infestation with an overall prevalence of 11.5% in the present study (13.5% in Ovine and 10.2% in Caprine) (Table 2). This finding agrees with the previous study from North Eastern Ethiopia by Tesfaheywet and Lemma (2012) who reported 11.7% prevalence of mite infestation in goats. However, the present result was higher than other works done in different parts of the country including Dejene et al (2012) with 2.8% and Yifat et al (2013) at 3.1%. Higher prevalence of mite in the present study was probably because of lacks of awareness about the significance of the problems among owners and inaccessibility for control schemes, soil type (sandy) and low management of the animals.
Mite has no significant difference with respect to sex and age of the animal in the present study. However, mites were significantly higher in animal with poor body condition than the medium and good body conditioned animal (Table 3 and 4). This result is in agreement with previous studies (Tesfaheywet and Misgana, 2012; Yifat et al 2013) with similar result. This might be due to nutritional status, where well-fed animals can better withstand parasites infestation than animals on an inadequate diet which can influence the level of immunity. Alternatively, mange might be a cause for poor body condition; hence high prevalence was computed in this group of animal (Wondwossen et al 2010). Observations that animals with poor body condition had higher ectoparasite infestation rate suggest negative effect on productive. On the other hands, ectoparasites infestation might be a cause for poor body condition; hence high prevalence was computed in this group of animal. Over all, further studies should be carried out to come up with a plausible explanation for these observations.
Keds were observed in both ovine and caprine in less degree of infestation at respective of prevalence 0.64% and 0.41% (Table 2).This is probably due to the fact that keds are mainly seen in colder, wetter areas with higher altitude (Taylor et al 2007). Therefore, low prevalence of Melophagus ovinus in the current study can be explained by the semi-arid and lowland ago-ecology of the study area which is basically non-conclusive for inhabitation of M. ovinus.
We would like to forward our appreciation to Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center staff especially parasitology team and animal science case team for their cooperation to accomplish this work and animal owners for their cooperation in using the animals for this research.
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Received 30 July 2016; Accepted 6 October 2016; Published 1 November 2016