Avaliação de caprinos naturalmente infectados por parasitos gastrintestinais em regime de confinamento

Abstract

Goat farming is a worldwide activity and in Brazil it has an important role in the economy. Unfortunately, the production of these animals has been impaired by problems associated with gastrointestinal parasites that affect the herd development and consequently generate economic losses. To control parasitic infections, alternative strategies to the use of anthelmintics are being thought. In this sense, the aim of this work was to evaluate the response of male goats to natural infections by gastrointestinal parasites kept in an confining regime and fed with two sources of dietary fiber. For this, 24 goats males, without defined breed standard, castrated and not castrated, fed with palm and sugarcane bagasse and elephant grass palm and hay, were evaluated weekly, for 120 days, by counting eggs (EPG) and oocysts (oOPG) per gram of feces, weight, packed cell volume (PCV) and feces culture. After this period, three animals from each treatment were randomly slaughtered and necropsied to collect the gastrointestinal tract and recover the adult parasites. There was no significant difference (p> 0.05) regarding to phenotypic characteristics evaluated. The number of effector cells of the immune response also did not show any significant difference (p> 0.05). Six distinct species of Eimeria spp. were identified, being E. ninakohlyakimovae the prevalent one (29%). A total of 1.251 adult parasites were recovered, with prevalence for Oesophagostomum spp. (1.210), followed by Haemonchus spp. (30), Trichostrongylus spp. (7) and Trichuris spp. (4). The animals fed with palm and elephant grass hay, regardless of castrated or not castrated, had highest parasitic load, which reinforces the importance of understanding variations in animal management and how it can interfere with endoparasite infection in goats.