Abstract :
A longitudinal survey was conducted to determine the prevalence and loads of gastrointestinal
parasites in goats raised by communal farmers of Qaukeni (QA) and Nkosana (NK)
communities of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa between June 2007 and April 2008.
One hundred and seventy one goats were weighed and had faecal samples collected from
their recta in four seasons; cold-dry, hot-dry, hot-wet and the post-rainy seasons. The samples
were examined by the modified McMaster technique for nematode egg types. Goats
in QA weighed more (P < 0.05) than those in NK in the post-rainy, cold-dry and hot-dry
seasons. However, in the hot-wet season, goats in NK had higher (P < 0.05) weights than
those in QA. The most frequently detected gastrointestinal eggs were the strongyle egg
type (68.4±8.49 in QA and 96.1±12.01 in NK), followed by coccidial oocysts (53.3±8.76
in QA and 68.8±8.00 in NK). The other identified nematodes were Strongyloides and Trichostrongylus
egg types. Higher loads (P < 0.05) of strongyle eggs were observed in the
hot-wet and post-rainy seasons, whilst the other egg types showed a peak in the hot-wet
season. Strongyle egg counts were higher (P < 0.05) in NK compared to QA. The results
indicate that strongyles are the major gastrointestinal egg types negatively affecting body
weights of goats.
