Prevalence Of Exto-parasites Among Domestic Animals Of Phedikhola Rural Municipality Syangja, District, Nepal

Abstract

Domestic animals are especially tamed because of their usefulness as work animals, food sources etc. Main ecto-parasites found in domestic animals are fleas, mites, lice, ticks. They may harm the animals in many ways and cause significant loss in production. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of ecto-parasites of domestic animals of ward no. 2 and 3 of Phedi khola rural municipality, Syangja district, Nepal. Ecto-parasites were collected from 300 domestic animals by random sampling method. They were collected by hand picking and brushing method in June 2017. They were preserved in vials containing 70% alcohol and slides were prepared and identified by using different identification keys. Analysis of the result was done by using MS-Excel 2010 and “R” version 3.3.1 software packages. Among 300 animals examined, 156 (52%) animals were found infested with ecto-parasites like lice, ticks and fleas. The overall prevalence of lice, ticks and fleas were 42.33%, 16.66% and 5.66% respectively. Identification was done up to species level. Out of 142 goats examined 81 (57.04%) were found infested with louse (Damalinia caprea), tick (Boophilus microplus) and flea(Ctenocephalides canis) and their prevalence was 49.29%, 3.52% and 4.22% respectively. Among 123 examined buffaloes 60 (48.78%) were found to be infested by louse (Haematopinus tuberculatus) and tick (Boophilus microplus) the prevalence rate of 43.90% and 12.19%. Out of 10 cows were examined 6 (60%) were found to be infested with tick (Boophilus microplus), similarly among 19 Oxen examined 9 ( 47.36%) were found to be infested with tick (Boophilus microplus). The distribution of all ecto-parasites on all animals was found insignificant. Domestic animals are commercially important to farmers so more studies should be done to understand dynamics of ecto-parasitism.