Gastrointestinal nematode infections do not hinder the development of Simmental X Nellore crossbred calves raised with a nutritionally enhanced diet

Abstract

An evaluation was made of the effect of anthelmintic treatments on the performance of Simmental X Nellore crossbred calves before and after weaning. To this end, the calves were divided into three groups: (1) treated monthly with a low efficacy anthelmintic drug, ivermectin; (2) treated monthly with a highly effective anthelmintic drug, albendazole; and (3) untreated control group. All the groups in this experiment showed an average fecal egg count of less than 400 eggs per gram (EPG), and no clinical signs of parasitic gastroenteritis. The blood variables were within the normal range and no calf presented anemia. In most of the samplings, mean EPGs were significantly lower (P<0.05) in the group treated with albendazole. The calves received dietary supplementation before and after weaning, which enabled them to gain weight in every month of the experiment and reach a body weight of about 250 kg on the last sampling date, before turning one year old. The anthelmintic treatments did not affect body weight gain, leading to the conclusion that, when fed with suitable dietary supplements, Simmental X Nellore crossbred calves are not affected by gastrointestinal nematode parasites acquired by grazing.

Nematodeoses gastrintestinais em bovinos no Brasil: revisão de artigos publicados no período de 2012 a 2020

“…Dados registrados na literatura comprovam que a ocorrência de parasitismo em bovinos pode variar, de região para região, dentro do Brasil. Região Sul: 18 a 84,85% (LUCCA et al 2015;SOLDA et al 2016;FERRAZ et al 2018;CEZARO et al 2018;RAMOS, 2019), Região sudeste: 3 a 36,05% (SILVA et al 2012;NEVES, 2014;PACHECO, 2015;YAMADA, 2016;RAMOS, 2019;NEVES et al 2020), Região Nordeste: 27% a 66% (DANTAS et al 2015e PEREIRA, 2019. Nas regiões Norte e Centro-Oeste não foram registrados dados sobre número de ovos de helmintos no período de 2012 a 2020.…”

“…Nas regiões Norte e Centro-Oeste não foram registrados dados sobre número de ovos de helmintos no período de 2012 a 2020. Os principais helmintos identificados através da cultura de larvas nas fezes de bovinos foram Haemonchus, Cooperia, Oesophagostomum e Trichostrongylus nos Estados de Santa Catarina (LUCCA et al 2015;SOLDA et al 2016), Rio Grande do Sul (FERRAZ et al 2018;RAMOS, 2019), São Paulo (SILVA et al 2012NEVES, 2014;PACHECO, 2015;YAMADA, 2016;OLIVEIRA et al 2016;CEZARO et al 2018;NEVES et al 2020), Pernambuco (PEREIRA, 2019), Bahia (DANTAS et al 2015), Minas Gerais (BLANCO et al 2017. Larvas infectantes de Ostertagia foram registradas no Rio Grande do Sul (FERRAZ et al 2018), Santa Catarina (LUCCA et al 2015 e Minas Gerais (BLANCO et al 2017).…”

Understanding Animal-Plant-Parasite Interactions to Improve the Management of Gastrointestinal Nematodes in Grazing Ruminants

“…In addition to providing nutrients for maintenance, growth and reproduction, nutrition of the host can affect the infectious ability of pathogens, detrimentally alter the environment in which they reside, and improve host resistance to pathogens [57,80]. Several experiments have shown the benefits of protein supplementation as regards resistance to gastrointestinal nematode infections in small ruminants [81], in periparturient ewes [82][83][84][85][86], in cattle [87,88] and in goats [89,90]. Moreover, nutritional strategies with metabolizable protein supplementation and anti-parasitic plant secondary metabolites showed a potential to additively improve host resilience and reduce reliance on anthelmintics [91].…”