Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth parasites of equids from organized farms of Mumbai and Pune.

A total of 1,304 faecal samples of different species of equids were examined for presence of helminthic eggs from five different centres in Mumbai and Pune regions of Maharashtra state from October 2011 to June 2012. Overall prevalence of helminthic infestation was found to be 20.63 % with higher rate of occurrence in monsoon (31.29 %) followed by winter (20.40 %) and summer (14.23 %). Four species of nematodes viz. strongyles (10.81 %), Strongyloides westeri (13.19 %), Parascaris equorum (0.23 %) and Dictyocaulus arnfieldi (0.23 %); two species of trematodes viz. amphistomes (1.38 %) and Schistosoma indicum (0.31 %) and only one species of cestode viz. Anoplocephala spp. (0.07 %) were encountered in the study. Coproculture studies revealed that Strongylus vulgaris was predominant species (36.87 %) among strongyles followed by cyathostomes. Amongst equids, mules had the lowest prevalence of 14.80 % followed by ponies (20.61 %) horses (38.79) and donkeys (51.90 %).