Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in dry season on dairy cattle at Holeta Agricultural Research Center Dairy Farm, Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was carried out in Holeta Agricultural Research Center Dairy Farm, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia to determine the status of gastrointestinal (GI) parasites on dairy cattle, reveal the level of severity of GI parasites on the basis of mean egg per gram of faces (epg) count through McMaster technique and identify the different gastrointestinal parasites dominated by flotation and sedimentation techniques. A total of 206 faecal samples were collected from purposively selected cows, bulls and heifers. The overall prevalence of GI parasites was found to be 87.9%. The average epg was found to be 179.8, indicating light level of parasite infection. The sex-wise prevalence revealed 85.0 and 15.0% in female and male animals, respectively. The qualitative faecal examination techniques, showed a prevalence of coccidia (56.3%), Fasciola spp. (26.2%), Paramphistomum spp. (10.2%), Bunostomum spp. (8.7%), Oesophagostomum spp. (8.3%), and Tricuris spp. (1.5%). With statistically significant difference (p<0.05), the prevalence was higher in milking cow (28.72%) than the rest of the animal categories and the lowest prevalence was observed on dry cow (12.15%). There was concurrent infection with two and more than two different GIT parasites with respective prevalence of 38.3 and 25.2%. The finding of the present study clearly suggests that GI parasites were higher in the farm with low severity, which contributes reduction in productivity. Hence, further and strengthened parasite control intervention is highly recommended taking into account the seasonality of parasite burden.