Prevalence of Trichuris spp. in small ruminants slaughtered in Srinagar District (J&K).

The present study aims to determine the age- wise, sex- wise and month-wise prevalence along with seasonal fluctuations of Trichuris spp. in ovines and caprines slaughtered during a 12 month period in local abattoirs in Srinagar region from August 2011 to July 2012. Adult parasites were identified on the basis of morphological characters (Soulsby Helminths, arthropods and protozoa of domes- 229 ticated animals, CLBS and Bailliere Tinda, London,1982). The highest prevalence (66.6 %) was in the month of Jan, 2012 whereas prevalence was lowest in the month of August 2011. Trichuris count in ovines increased in autumn (42.02 %), reached maximum levels in winter (59.37), and then tended to decline until spring (53.22 %) and reached minimum levels in summer (30.6 %), before increasing again in mid-autumn. Thus with respect to climatic conditions of area from which exotic ovines were imported, Trichuris prevalence was more prevalent in dry season(55.5 %) than in wet season (36.36 %). Moreover, an association was observed between sex and age of the host with prevalence of Trichuris infection. Of the representative examined samples, Trichuris infection was 44.07 % in female host comparative to 38.07 % infection in males (p > 0.05). Likewise young animals were more infected (53.8 %) than the adult ones (32.9 %) and kids (37.5 %). Moreover, Trichuris spp. were more prevalent in goats than in sheep(p < 0.05). Hence, it was concluded that prevalence of Trichuris spp. infecting ovines varied with respect to season, age and sex.