Abstract

THE EFFICACY OF IVEMECTIN TREATMENT AGAINST ENDO AND ECTO-PARASITES OF CATTLE IN SELECTED CATTLE FARMS ACROSS BENUE STATE

Tyoakoso, Tersoo Collins*, Atsuwe, Terese Simon and Obisike, Victor Ugochukwu

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of Ivermectin treatment against endo and ectoparasites of cattle in selected cattle farms across Benue State. For this purpose a total of two hundred and seven (207) cattle were examined across the farms between July to September 2014. A total of 207 stool samples were collected from six selected farms across Benue State, to determine the prevalence of both endoparasites of cattle using concentration and floatation methods for the detection of heavy and light parasites respectively. Out of the 207 cattle examined, 68 and 45 cattle were infected with endoparasite (Fasciola hepatica, Moniezia expansa and Strongyloides papillosis) and ectoparasites (Grub, Mites and Ticks) respectively. Relatedly, cattle examined from Terkwande farm had the highest number of parasitic infections with 24(35.3%) while cattle from Suswan farm recorded the least number of parasitic infections of 2(2.9%), after treatment the result shows that cattle from Terkwande farm recorded 2(28.6%) number of parasitic infection while those from Suswan farm recorded no infection. Relatedly, cattle from Terkwande farm recorded the highest number of parasitic infections of 17(37.8%) while those from David-Mark farm recorded the least with 1(2.2%), after treatment the result shows that cattle from Terkwande farm recorded 3(23.1%) while those from David-Mark farm had no infection. The result revealed that, statistically the prevalence of both endo and ectoparasites across the farms was highly significant (P<0.05). Conclusively, farmers should adopt the use of Ivermectin treatment against endo and ectoparasites hence its effectiveness has been proven in the study.

Keywords: Parasite, Treatment Ivermectin, Efficacy, Farms.