Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Helminth Parasites in Grasscutter in Umuahia Area of Abia State

Abstract

The prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites of grasscutter in umuahia area in south eastern Nigeria was investigated. Faecal samples of eight hundred and sixty (860) grasscutters were screened for the presence of the parasites. They were collected from freshly voided faeces, faecal egg count (FEC) was conducted using both the salt flotation and Mcmaster techniques. Coccidian oocysts were also noted and quantified using the same techniques as in FEC, both coccidian oocysts and helminth eggs were present. The number of grasscutter infected with gastrointestinal parasites were 320 with a prevalence of 37.2%. 90 (28.1%) and 230 (42.5%) of the 320 young and 540 adult grasscutter respectively were infected with gastrointestinal parasites. One hundred and sixty (30.7%) and one hundred and eighty (52.9%) of the male and female grassutters respectively were infected with gastrointestinal parasites. It was concluded that gastrointestinal parasites were common in grasscutters in umuahia area. There is need for appropriate sustainable control measure to enhance a profitable grasscutter enterprise.