Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Parasites of Cattle in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, North Central, Nigeria.

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out from August 2024 to February 2025 to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites of cattle in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria. A total of 384 faecal samples were collected from cattle and analyzed using centrifugal floatation and sedimentation technique. An overall prevalence of 63.28% was recorded with an epg/opg range of 100-900. Six (6) gastrointestinal parasites were detected namely, Ascaris lumbricoides (12.76), Toxocara spp (16.15%) Strongyle spp (17.19%), Schistosoma spp (5.21%), Monieza spp (7.81%) and Entamoeba spp (4.17%). Among the parasites detected, Strongyle spp had the highest prevalence (17.19%) while Entamoeba spp had the least prevalence of 4.17%. The study revealed that females (70.95%), Older cattle (70.11%), white fulani breeds (66.34%), pregnant females (82.50%) and wet season (90.75%) recorded the highest prevalence as compared to males (54.02%), young cattle (46.59%), red bororo breeds (51.85%), non-pregnant females (58.93%) and dry season (41.52%). There was a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) in the prevalence of infection between the sex, age, breeds, physiological status of the cattle and season. The findings of this study revealed that cattle are infected with different gastrointestinal parasites in the study area, hence a targeted control effort should be adopted to reduce the burden of gastrointestinal parasites of cattle in the study area.