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( )A. Jalila et al.rVeterinary Parasitology 74 1998 165172166

1994, 1995; Fatimah et al., 1992; Syed, 1976; Symoens et al., 1993; Zamri-Saad et al.,.1987 . In most cases several factors were found to be involved concurrently and

cumulative pathogenic effects should be expected. Among gastrointestinal parasite

infections in Malaysian goats, strongylosis caused chiefly by Haemonchus contortus,was shown to be of great importance, especially in young kids Daud, 1991; Dorny et

.al., 1995 . Little attention has been given to the role of coccidial infections. A fewstudies demonstrated the presence of different Eimeria spp. in Malaysian goats Amin-

.Babjee et al., 1990; Daud, 1991; Fatimah et al., 1989; Syed, 1976 , but no attempt was

made to relate these findings to epidemiological or pathological factors. Also these

studies were done on large institutional farms and not on traditional farms on which80% of the Malaysian goat population, estimated at 288,000, is kept Mukherjee et al.,

.1991 .

The present survey was aimed to identify the species currently occurring on tradi-

tional goat farms and to study patterns of infection according to age, management and

nutritional factors, and relate these findings to pathological factors.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Study site

The study was made between December 1991 and December 1992 in the Hulu

Langat district in the state of Selangor, peninsular Malaysia, which lies between the firstand second northern parallels. The climate, without distinct seasons, is warm and humid.

Weather data pertaining to the study period were obtained from the Universiti Pertanian .Malaysia UPM meteorological station.

2.2. Farms, animals and management

The study comprised 10 traditional goat farms. The number of animals on each farm

ranged between 12 and 60. The breeds involved were the local katjang and their crosses

at different degrees with several exotic breeds. On one farm, some pure Australian Feralgoats were kept. Animals were kept in a semi-intensive management system: they were

penned at night and in the morning in wooden sheds with raised slatted floor and

allowed to graze in the afternoon for 3 to 5 h in rubber or oil palm plantations, on road

sides or on uncultivated land. There was no particular breeding season; births were

recorded throughout the year. Following birth, kids were kept in or around the shed for 1

or 2 months, after which they followed their dams to the grazing areas. Kids were

naturally and progressively weaned from 3 months of age onwards. Feed supplementa-

tion was provided on all farms but it varied between farms: on some farms grass, weeds

and leaves were cut and given to the animals, on other farms goats were supplementedwith rice porridge, kitchen leftovers or goat concentrates. Water was usually supplied in

buckets in the shed, salt blocks were irregularly given in some of the farms. Basic health

management was practiced during the study period.

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( )A. Jalila et al.rVeterinary Parasitology 74 1998 165172 167

2.3. Epidemiological surey

At the start of the study, all animals of the herds were recorded, ear tagged, weighed

and their age registered. The herds were visited at fortnightly intervals during which all

animals were identified, their health condition recorded, births, deaths, purchases andsales recorded, all new animals ear-tagged, and rectal faecal samples collected from all

kids less than 1 year. A total of 125 kids were monitored from which 815 faecal samples

were collected during the study period. The samples were transported to the lab in a cool

box and processed on the same day.

For each farm, management and feeding system such as, number of animals, number

of kids, grazing time and type of feed supplementation was recorded. Hygiene status

was determined throughout the survey by assessing the following criteria related to the

shed: ventilation, elevation above ground level and exposure of the shed to direct

sunlight, presence of faeces in and under the shed, frequency of cleaning and space for

each animal.

2.4. Parasitological methods

Oocysts counts were done by means of a modified Mc Master technique with a . .precision of 100 oocysts per gram of faeces OPG Anonymous, 1986 . In the case of

very high counts further dilution of the faecal suspension by 10 or 100 times was done

to enable counting.

.Identification of oocysts was done after sporulation at room temperature 26 338C ina 2% potassium dichromate solution. Oocysts were concentrated by centrifugal floata-

tion using saturated sodium chloride solution. Measurements of oocysts were done with

an ocular eyepiece, calibrated with a micrometer, under a 40= objective. They were . .identified according to the keys of Pellerdy 1974 and Anonymous 1986 .

2.5. Data analysis

..Faecal oocyst counts were logarithmically transformed ln countq1 before analy-sis. Mean oocyst counts are given after exponential reconversion. One way analysis of

variance, Duncan multiple range test and multiple regression procedure were used to

analyse the data. The effects of management, feeding and hygiene were analysed by step

wise multiple regression procedure. The factors were, the farm, age of kids, the number

of kids in the herd, hygiene level, feeding system, sex, breed and intensity of rainfall . .rain mm between two sampling dates . Farms which had more than 15 kids were

considered as large and with less than 15 as small. Farms were categorized as having

good hygiene if six criteria were met, namely, sheds built more than 1 m above

ground-level, exposure to sunshine, good ventilation, regular removal of the dung fromunder the shed, no overcrowding, and a clean floor. Farms were classified as having

moderate hygiene if three to five of these criteria were met, and as having poor hygiene

if less than three criteria were met.

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3. Results

During the study period of 1 year, the rainfall was 2307 mm and an average relative

humidity of 96.4% was recorded. No actual dry season occurred, but only dry spells of 1

or 2 weeks. Temperature showed very little fluctuation throughout the study; averageminimum and maximum daily temperatures of 22.58C and 32.98C, respectively, were

recorded. .A total of 725 89% of the 815 faecal samples taken during the study period were

positive for Eimeria oocysts. The prevalence was highest in young animals which also

showed higher oocyst counts. The geometric mean oocyst counts according to age are

presented in Fig. 1. A peak in mean oocyst counts was observed at the age of 1012

weeks, which coincided with the weaning period. Mean oocyst counts declined after-

wards and were below 2000 after the 20th week of age. The intensity of oocyst counts

.according to age groups is shown in Fig. 2. In kids under 16-weeks old, 123 34% .faecal samples had oocyst counts between 10,000 and 100,000 and 69 19% had counts

of over 100,000. High counts were rare in older kids. Oocyst counts of age groups . .classes 2 16; 18 32 and 3256 weeks were significantly different P-0.05 .

Nine species of Eimeria were identified. The most prevalent were E. arloingi, found . .in 71% of the samples, E. ninakohlyakimoae 67% , E. christenseni 63% and E.

.alijei 61% . The other species found were E. hirci, E. jolchijei, E. caproina, E.

caprina and E. pallida, present in 34, 22, 12, 9 and 4% of the samples, respectively. E.

ninakohlyakimoae, the most pathogenic species, was relatively unimportant at all ages .

and high oocyst counts in kids were mainly due to less pathogenic species Fig. 1 .The number of kids in the herd, the feeding system, sex, breed and the intensity of

rainfall did not affect the intensity of oocyst counts. On the other hand, the hygiene level

Fig. 1. Mean faecal oocyst counts and proportion of oocyst counts of E. ninakohlyakimoae of goats

according to age.

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Fig. 2. Intensity of oocyst counts in goats according to age groups.

.was found to affect the intensity of the oocyst counts P-0.05 . The overall mean

oocyst counts on each farm during the study period, the hygiene status and the mortality

during the first 150 days are presented in Table 1. Two farms were classified as having

good hygiene, seven as moderate, and one as poor. The highest overall mean oocyst

count was found in the farm of poor hygiene while the two farms with high hygienic .standards had the lowest counts. Mortality in young kids 0 150 days was very high on

all farms and ranged from 24.4% to 83.2%. Mortality rate was not affected by hygiene

status nor by the intensity of coccidial infections.

Table 1

Coccidial infections on traditional goat farms in peninsular Malaysia: relation between hygiene level, intensity

of coccidial infection and 0150 days mortality rateFarm Hygiene No. of kids Overall mean oocyst Mortality rate

. .monitored count OPG 0150 %

a)12 Poor 12 149,043 40.7a,b13 Moderate 6 51,430 24.4a,b14 Moderate 9 22,091 37.1a,b9 Moderate 31 17,517 47.4

b10 Moderate 15 10,882 35.0b2 Moderate 11 9479 33.8b11 Moderate 3 6265 83.2b

7 Moderate 12 6221 30.0c22 Good 17 127 57.6c4 Good 8 62 58.8

)

Means bearing different superscripts are significantly different at P-0.05 in Duncans multiple range test.

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4. Discussion

The finding of a very high prevalence of coccidial infections in goats in this study is

in agreement with observations made in other countries where an infection rate of80 98% has been recorded Lima, 1980; Norton, 1986; OCallaghan, 1989; de la Fuente

.and Alunda, 1992 .Over 13 species of coccidia have been recorded from goats from different parts of the

.world Chhabra and Pandey, 1991 . In this study, nine species of Eimeria were

identified in smallholder farms in West Malaysia, among which E. jolchijei, E.

caprina and E. caproina were reported for the first time in this country. E. aspheron- . .ica E. faurei , which was described in Malaysia by Fatimah et al. 1989 , was not

found in our study.

The prevalence of coccidial infections was highest in young animals which also

showed significantly higher oocyst counts. The higher intensity of infections in kids of

616 weeks may be explained by the reduction of passive immunity provided by the .colostrum during the first weeks Taylor, 1995 , by the lack of acquired immunity at this

young age, but also by the current management of keeping young kids alongside their

dams in and near the shed and thus exposing them to a higher infection level. After 16

weeks of age, the oocyst counts showed a decreasing trend indicating that acquired

immunity had developed.

The peak oocyst counts were observed around weaning. This conforms to other .observations Kanyari, 1988; Fivaz et al., 1990; Penzhorn et al., 1994 . Mortality around

weaning has been shown to be very important on Malaysian smallholder farms and has

been attributed mainly to parasitic gastroenteritis, pneumonia and mange Symoens et.al., 1993 . A possible role of coccidiosis in these mortality cases is difficult to assess.

.Yvore et al. 1980 claimed that severe enteric lesions with diarrhoea and very highoocyst counts are associated with severe coccidiosis. In our study, diarrhoea was not a

common clinical sign in kids and high oocyst counts were only rarely associated with

diarrhoea. The absence of clinical symptoms of coccidiosis may have been due to the

species involved and to the management.E. ninakohlyakimoae is considered to be the most pathogenic species Pellerdy,

. .1974 . Yvore et al. 1987 associated counts of 200,000 E. ninakohlyakimoae oocysts

per gram faeces with severe diarrhoea, depression and death, while in the case of E.arloingi counts up to 24=106 OPG were only associated with mild, transient diarrhoea.

Although E. ninakohlyakimoae in our study was widespread, differential oocyst counts

showed that the intensity of infections caused by this species was low in most cases.

Thus, high oocyst counts were mainly caused by species of lower pathogenicity and not

by E. ninakohlyakimoae.

One of the most common factors that precipitate coccidiosis is heavily contaminated . .environment Schillhorn van Veen, 1986 . According to Catchpole et al. 1993 , clinical

coccidiosis is mainly seen in intensive systems; in less intensive systems disease rarely

occurs because the young animals meet the parasites more gradually and are able to gaineffective immunity. A traditionally built Malaysian shed for small ruminants presents

opportunities for low levels of oocyst contamination through its elevated slatted floor,

making evacuation of faecal pellets easy. In our study the intensity of infection was

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found to be related to the hygiene level. Good hygiene reduces the transmission of .coccidia, the rate of infection and the prevalence of disease Foreyt, 1990 . Accumula-

tion of faeces in the shed is reduced if the floor is well conceived and maintained. On

the other hand the direct environment of the shed may be heavily contaminated when the

dung is not regularly removed from under the shed. This may be a source of infection

with coccidia but also with nematodes when the animals are allowed to graze around theshed as is often practiced for the dams with their kids.

Other factors including the number of kids in the herd, the feeding system, sex, the

breed and the intensity of rainfall did not affect the intensity of infections in the present

study. This may have been due to the absence of a breeding season in goats in Malaysia,

to the similarity of the feeding systems between the farms, and to the very small climatic

variations during the year.

Association of coccidiosis with concomitant infections such as, helminthiasis, pneu-

monia, mange and contagious ecthyma, and with a poor nutritional status due to

weaning without supplementation, may be responsible for the observed increase ofmortality at weaning. Hygiene was found to have a major impact on the infection level

on the farms. Keeping the floor of the shed clean and regularly removing the dung from

under the shed may drastically reduce coccidial infections.

Acknowledgements

This study was carried out within the framework of the MalaysiaBelgium Veteri-

.nary Project VI.I.R., Belgium at the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor,Malaysia. We thank Dr. C. Symoens and Mat Zaki bin Mahmud for their invaluable

help.

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