The occurrence of gastrointestinal parasitic infections of goats in Ratchaburi, Thailand

Gastrointestinal (GI) parasitic diseases play an important role in the major constraints on goat production in Thailand and worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of GI parasitic infections among goats in Ratchaburi province of Thailand. In this study, fecal samples (394) were collected and tested by means of the floatation, sedimentation and direct smear methods to discriminate eggs or oocyst of the parasites. The overall occurrence of GI parasitic infections was 86.54%. The respective occurrences for the raising distance, farm system, water source nearby, type of feed and aquatic plants were found to vary significantly (p < 0.01), while a significant difference was not observed counting upon the goats' gender and age. The result disclosed that the highest occurrence of nematode, trematode, cestode and protozoa were Strongyloides sp. (57.77%), Paramphistomum cervi (33.43%), Moniezia sp. (29.91%) and Eimeria sp. (1.75%), respectively. Both single infection (18.78%) and mixed infection (67.67%) were evaluated in the examined goats. And so, on top of this, GIS results exhibited the movements or raising distance of goats indicating parasitic disease distribution. We intensively noted the need to find appropriate preventive control strategies against parasitic diseases in order to reduce or eliminate the harmful impact of parasitic infections on the goat industry.