Investigation of productivity in a south Indian Malabari goat herd shows opportunities for planned animal health management to improve food security

Abstract

Here the authors report the objective veterinary clinical measurement of productivity in a representative south Indian Malabari goat herd. The authors show failure to meet pragmatic production targets that are commensurate with the animals' genetic potential or adequate to meet the demands of global food security. The authors suggest that this situation may have arisen as a consequence of animal husbandry constraints and protein undernutrition and imply the involvement of nematode parasitism. Benzimidazole resistance was detected in species, showing the need for better understanding of the principles of sustainable helminth parasite control within the southern Indian context. This study highlights the need to understand the true costs of goat production in seasonally resource-poor environments, while also considering its impact on the overall ecosystem in which the animals are placed. They conclude that pragmatic opportunities for improvements in goat production efficiency lie in the development of problem-focused planned animal health and nutrition management.

The impact of anthelmintic drugs on weight gain of smallholder goats in subtropical regions

“…Studies typically identify prevalences of infection that can be as high as 100% with very high burdens of infection in infected animals ( Dixit et al, 2017 ; Rupa and Portugaliza, 2016 ; Sharma et al, 2016 ), but in other settings both the prevalence and burden of infection can be much lower ( Haile et al, 2018 ). Helminth infections reduce weight gain, thus impacting on the time taken to reach target weights for slaughter or reproduction, and reducing the efficiency of conversion of nutritional inputs that are required for the animal to reach maturity ( Sargison et al, 2017 ).…”

Estimating the impact of administration of dewormers on smallholder chickens in Odisha State, India

“…Infections by other types of helminths—cestodes and trematodes are less frequently reported. Helminth infections have a clear impact on the development and productivity of the infected species, primarily affecting the weight gain (Sargison et al, 2017). There are a number of off-the-shelf dewormers that are typically administered en masse without obtaining a diagnosis but only a small number of studies have sought to estimate the impact that dewormers have on weight gain of smallholder chickens (Phiri et al, 2007; Chota et al, 2010; Katoch et al, 2012).…”

Development of high throughput method for the analysis of anthelmintic resistance allele frequencies in field populations of gastrointestinal nematodes

“…A large survey of Scottish sheep farms showed the benzimidazole resistance phenotype in 64% of farms, almost exclusively in the predominant gastrointestinal nematode species, Teldorsagia circumcincta (Bartley et al, 2003). Benzimidazole resistance is an emerging problem around the world in regions where efficient small ruminant production is essential in poverty alleviation (Lalljee et al, 2018) and where alternative anthelmintic drug groups are hitherto unavailable or prohibitively expensive (Sargison et al, 2017; Van Wyk et al, 1989; Wong and Sargison, 2018).…”