Gastrointestinal parasitic infection in Gir Cattle (Bos primigenius indicus) and Jaffrabadi Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) from Junagadh, Gujarat, India

Coprological analysis was performed to check the presence and previlance of gastrointestinal parasites. One hundred seventy six bovine faecal samples were studied. The study reported the presence of parasitic stages of Balantidium coli, Buxtonella sulcata, Trichostrongylus spp., Toxocara vitulorum, Fasciola spp., Strongyloid spp., and Paraamphistomum spp. 43.51 % (n = 108) faecal samples from Gir cattle (Bos primigenius indicus) were positive for Gastrointestinal parasitic infections. and 36.76 % (n = 68) faecal samples from Jaffrabadi Buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) were positive for Gastrointestinal parasitic infections. In Cattle Balantidium coli was found highest (20.37 %) and in Buffaloes Buxtonella sulcata was found highest (8.82%). the highest incidence was recorded during august for both cattle (6.48 %) and buffalo (7.35 %). Gastrointestinalparasitic infections in claves (< 12 Months) was higher than older (> 60 Months) and adult animals (12-60 Months). Season wise gastrointestinal parasitic infections in cattle were reported maximum (23.15 %) during monsoon. Maximum prevalence in buffalo was reported during Monsoon (16.18 %). similarly, females recorded higher infection rates than malesfor both cattle and buffalo.


Introduction
Gastrointestinal parasitic infection is a major health problem in domestic animals. Gastrointestinal parasitism is a chief constraint for livestock production leading to heavy economic loss. They have an important impact on the pro tability of dairy production systems (Beasley et al., 2010) [5] by affecting the productivity and reproductively of the animals. Gastrointestinal (GI) parasites cause remarkable universal economic losses as a result of digestive disturbance, lowered production, reduced weight gain, impaired reproductive performance, condemnation of affected organs and mortality in infected animals (Raza et al., 2007) [23].
Parasitic diseases caused by intestinal parasites constitute (generate) a major drawback to livestock production (Hosteet al., 2006) [14]. The hot and humid climatic conditions are very native for propagation and perpetuation of parasites (Enderjat, 1964) [10]. Country like India has this kind of climatic conditions throughout the year except three to four months of winter,Therefore, documentation on parasitic prevalence are very necessary to make a suitable plan for its prevention and control (Thakreet al., 2019) [32]. The present communication deals with the prevalence of gastrointestinal (GI) parasites in Gir cattle and Jaffrabadi buffalo of Junagadh.

DETAILS OF THE SPECIES ENCOUNTERED
In present study total seven species of gastrointestinal parasites were recorded. Out of which two species of phylum Protozoa, two species of phylum Platyhelminthes and three species of phylum Nemathelminthesof Gastrointestinal (GI) parasites were recorded.

Toxocara vitulorum (Goeze, 1782)
T. vitulorum is one of the most common and hazardous intestinal parasite (Woodbury, 2012) [34] which cause anorexia, diarrhoea, weight loss and calf mortality (Roldan et. al., 2010) [25]. Bovine toxocariosis is among the most economically important diseases, affecting animals mainly at young age due to Faecal samples of cattle and buffaloes were collected from Junagadh region. The samples were examined in the laboratory by sedimentation and oatation technique (Soulsby, 1982) [28]. A total of 176 (108-Gir cattle & 68-Jaffrabadi buffalo) faecal samples were collected from selected sites i.e. farms and cowshed (Gaushala) of Junagadh area from period August, 2019 to March, 2020. Freshly dropped faecal samples were collected for parasitological examination. Approximately 40g faeces were collected into individual zipper storage bags or plastic pots with label. Collected samples were stored with ice bags until examined.The samples were examined for parasitic eggs and protozoan ova/oocystwith 10x and 40x magni cation of compound microscope(Zajac and Conboy, 2012) [35], (Hendrix et al., 2006) [13].

Result And Discussion
The present study was conducted to know the month, season, sex, age and species wise prevalence (%) of gastrointestinal parasites in Gir Cattle and Jaffrabadi Buffalo in Junagadh area. Samples were collected from August-2019 to March-2020. The incidence of diversi ed GI parasites encountered in this study in cattle and buffaloes are summarized in [ Table 1]. Microscopic examination exposed that It was observed studied that the age wise prevalence of GI parasitic infection was highest in young cattle (23.15 %) than old (12.96 %) and adults (7.41 %). Highest incidence was recorded in young buffalo (14.71) than old (13.24) and adults (8.82). [ Table 3]. The prevalence of GI parasites with the age has also been reported by Quershi and Tanveer (Quershi and Tanveer, 2009) [21] and (Telilaet al., 2014) [31]. On the contrary, Regassaet al., (Regassaet al., 2006 [24] stated that the younger animals are more susceptible than adult animals. Age wise percentage (%) based on species is summarised in [Fig 1].
Regarding over all sex wise prevalence, though positive ratio of gastrointestinal parasitic infection was higher in female cattle than male (32.41 %vs 11.11 %) and a similarly observed for buffaloes (29.85 %vs 7.46 %), [ Table 4] This ndings can be supported by the fact that this region of Gujarat usually shows common managemental practices that are adopted for animals of both male and female followed by deworming programme which is similar for each that give reason of being no signi cant difference in prevalence of parasitic infections among males and females could be detected (Maharana et al., 2016) [18]. Sex wise percentage (%) based on species is summarised in [Fig 2].
The overall phylum wise incidence of parasitic infections in both cattle and buffalo is given in [Fig 3]. Highest incidence (68%) was recorded in phylum Protozoa followed by Nemathelminthes (23%) and Platyhelminthes (9%).

Conclusion
Various gastrointestinal parasites have been found in Gir Cattle and Jaffrabadi buffaloes in Junagadh region were infected with Balantidium coli, Buxtonella sulcata, Fasciola spp., Paraamphistomum spp., Toxocara vitulorum, Trichostrongylus spp. Strongyloid spp. of GI parasites. The present study showed a higher prevalence of GI parasites in cattle 43.52 % (n = 108) than in buffaloes 36.76 % (n = 68). The prevalence rates of GI parasites varied with month. Females carried higher GI parasitic burden than males. In young animals (calves -below 1 year) GI parasitic infection was higher followed by older (more than 5 years) and adults (1-5 years). Seasonal GI parasitic load were maximum in monsoon and post monsoon.
Declarations Figure 1 Age wise incidence (%) based of species of parasites of GI parasitic infections in Gir Cattle & Jaffrabadi buffalo in Junagadh region.

Figure 2
Sex wise incidence (%) based on parasite species of GI parasitic infections in Gir cattle & Jaffrabadi buffalo.