Gastrointestinal helminth parasites of wild ungulates in Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, Kashmir, India

AbstractParasitic infection represents an emerging threat to wild ungulates and a challenge to their management. Although a lot of work has been carried out on helminth parasitic infestation of domestic ungulates of Kashmir but the data pertaining to this aspect of wild ungulates has been ignored. The study on gastrointestinal helminth parasitic infestation of wild ungulates was carried out during post livestock grazing period (November to May) of 2018/2019 in Hirpora Wildlife sanctuary (HWLS) to fill the gap in the existing literature. During the study fresh faecal samples of musk deerMoschus spp. (n = 44) and markhorCapra falconeri (n = 41) were collected and examined qualitatively and quantitatively for gastrointestinal helminth parasites. A total of seven helminth parasites were recorded which are arranged in the descending order of their overall prevalence asHaemonchus spp. (44.70%),Nematodirus spp. (40%),Trichuris  spp. (37.64%),Strongyloides spp. (34.11%)Trichostrongylus spp. (28.23%)Moniezia spp. (23.52%) andFasciola spp. (20%). The mean EPG (eggs per gram) of different parasites showed a considerable variation in both the wild ungulates. The highest mean EPG was that ofHaemonchus spp. and the lowest mean EPG was that ofFasciola spp. in both hosts. A statistically significant difference was observed in the mean EPG of different parasites between two wild hosts (t = 3.606,p = 0.01) .
Source: Journal of Parasitic Diseases - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research