Prevalence of parasitic infections in cattle of Ludhiana district, Punjab.

A total of 862 cattle were sampled for both haematological (703) and coprological (159) investigations at the Large Animal Clinics, GADVASU, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. Examination of Giemsa-stained peripheral blood smears exhibited that 22.9 % (161/703) of cattle were infected with haematozoa comprising Theileria annulata (14.65 %), Trypanosoma evansi (0.28 %), Babesia bigemina (1.56 %) and Anaplasma marginale (8.53 %) while mixed infection appeared in 2.13 % (15/703) animals. The prevalence of total haemoparasites and A. marginale infections were significantly higher (p < 0.01) in younger animals <1 year of age whereas, T. evansi and A. marginale infections were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in males. Coprological examination revealed that the overall prevalence of gastrointestinal (GI) parasitic infection was 16.98 % (27/159). Among the revealed parasites, amphistomes, Fasciola spp., Eimeria spp., Balantidium coli, strongyles and Trichuris spp. were detected from 3.77, 1.88, 3.77, 2.52, 10.69 and 1.26 % of examined animals. Except coccidiosis, there was no significant variation of GI parasitic infections in relation to sex as Eimeria spp. were found higher (p < 0.01) in males. The prevalence of Trichuris spp. was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in younger animals <6 months of age. The present work emphasized that strongyles and T. annulata were the most prevalent GI and haemoparasites, respectively.