Relationship between system of raising Egyptian buffaloes and the effect of climate conditions on the helminthic infection rate, middle Delta, Egypt.

No doubt climate conditions are of sound influence in both prevalence of helminthic infection and the physiology of the host. Fewer studies have been done on this relationship on farm animals. To complete the view, one thousand, two hundred and seventy eight buffaloes owned by farmers from 160 herds belong to 32 villages in the middle Delta of Egypt were randomly chosen to study factors which influence the infection with gastrointestinal parasites. Relationship between number of parasites, herd size, resources of water and season of the year were investigated. The main results showed that: (1) Fasciola gigantica infection recorded the highest percentage, 48.04% followed by Neoascaris vitulorum and Eimeria spp. (2) Percentage rates of parasitic infection (single, double or triple) in each animal were 62.80%, 29.43% and 7.77%, respectively. (3) Infection rate tended to increase with herd size in most cases. (4) Resource of water had highly significant effect on infection rate. (5) The highest infection was recorded in summer and the lowest in spring or winter. (6) A negative and highly significant correlation between infection and number of parasites (0.99). Herd size did not associate with infection, while temperature and relative humidity correlated significantly with infection rate (0.67 and 0.78) respectively.