Abstract            Volume:9  Issue-11  Year-2021         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

A cross-sectional study was carried out in urban and peri-urban dairy farms in different areas of Ethiopia from September 2010 to March 2015 to determine the prevalence of Endoparasites and Ectoparasites and its risk factors in young calves. A total of 680 calves were clinically examined for ectoparasite infestation in Oromia and Amhara regions where as 812 calves were diagnosed for endoparasites in Oromia, Amhara and Sidama regions of Ethiopia. Results from data analysis indicated that out of the total calves examined for ectoparasites, 14.9% (N=101) were infested with one or more parasites and the dominant parasites were Ambyloma species (1.8%), Boophilus species (2.6%), fleas (1.5%), lice species (5.4%) and mixed infestation(3.5%). The occurrence of ectoparasite was 15.1% in Oromia and 13.5% in Amhara regions of Ethiopia. The risk factor analysis showed that the prevalence of ectoparasite was relatively higher in cross breed (15.2%) than in local breed of calves (14.4%). Insignificant variation was observed (p>0.05) in harboring single or mixed parasites between the breed and sex of calves and age groups showed statistically significant variation (p<0.05). Calves kept under semi-intensive (15.6%) management system were more vulnerable to infestation than calves managed intensively (12.6%). Infestation was relatively higher in wet season (16.5%) as compared to dry season (12.5%). Management system and season insignificantly influenced the occurrence of ectoparasites of calves (p>0.05). On the other hand, data analysis for Endoparasites showed that 51.2% (n=416) calves harbored one or more parasite species and the dominant parasites were, strongyle species (30%), mixed (29.3%), coccidia (20.43%), ascaris (13.9%), monesia (3.34%), fasciola species and others (0.48%) in decreasing proportion. In this case, the highest prevalence of endoparasite were occurred in Sidama (61.4%) followed by Oromia (52.2%) and Amhara (38.73%) regions. The risk factor analysis revealed that sex, age groups and season significantly (p<0.05) influenced the occurrence of internal parasites but, breed had no significant effect (p>0.05). Intensity of strongyle infection in terms of egg per gram (EPG) showed significant variation (p<0.05) between age groups, sex and season. Findings of the present study illustrated that endoparasites and ectoparasites were highly prevalent in the study regions. Therefore, intervention options needs to be introduced against the parasites per regions.

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