| Goat gastrointestinal parasitosis is a common chronic wasting disease in husbandry production,and it also causes appetite decline,slow growth,anemia,and even death.Goat susceptible parasites include protozoa,roundworm,and nematodes.Finding out the infection degree of gastrointestinal parasite eggs as early as possible helps to take effective control measures.Studies on sheep have shown that eggs per gram of feces(EPG)can be used as the main indicator of parasite infection and are highly correlated with parasite load(r = 0.61 to0.91;heritability = 0.22 to 0.43);which belongs to medium heritability trait.Recently,most reports on indicator traits related to parasite resistance in small ruminants are mainly concentrated on sheep,only few reports on goats.To our knowledge,studies of breeds and ages effects on goat fecal egg count,immune/stress levels and routine blood test result are still a miss.In order to compare the differences in anti-parasite immunity among Lubo goat,Laiwu black goat,and Laoshan dairy goat breeds,and reveal the associations between goat parasitic infection intensity,body immune/stress levels,and outine blood test results under house feeding conditions,504 goats were used as the experimental population in this study.Three breeds(131 Lubo goats,193 Laiwu black goats,and 180 Laoshan dairy goats)and three age groups(under 1 year old,1 year-2 years old)Group,group over 2 years old)were chosen as experimental animals.All experimental animals were fed with free feeding and free water,and stopped deworming medicine feeding at two months before sampling.Feces and blood were sampled for each goats.The EPG,cortisol,immunoglobulins(IgA,IgG,and IgM)in the feces,as well as routine blood test were also performed on all goats.Analysis of variance,multiple comparisons and correlation analysis were performed on 14 traits using SPSS software.The statistical results showed that:1.The average EPG of the whole goat population is 1878.37 with great differences among individuals,the minimum and maximum EPG values are 100 and 20700,respectively.Among them,the differences between breeds were(P<0.01),with Lubo goats being thehighest(average EPG was 3326.64±250.13)and Laiwu black goats were the lowest(1040.96±131.73).The level of difference between age groups is more complex.The average EPG of group under 1 year old,1-2 years old and over 2 years old,are 2875,1486 and 1590,respectively.The EPG of group under 1 year old is significantly higher(P<0.01)than the group 1-2 and over 2 years old.There was no significant difference between the group 1-2years old and the group over 2 years old(P>0.05).The interaction between breed and age achieved extremely significant level(P<0.01),indicating that EPG levels are simultaneously affected by breed and age.2.The average fecal cortisol concentration of Shandong house-fed goat population was52.86ng/ml.Among them,the Laoshan dairy goats(59.12±2.02ng/g)were significantly(P<0.05)higher than both Lubo goats(49.02 ± 2.67ng/g)and Laiwu black goats(49.62 ±2.17ng/g),but there was no significant difference between Lubo goat and Laiwu black goat(P>0.05).There was no significant difference between different age groups(P>0.05).And the interaction between age and breed achieved extremely significant level(P<0.01).3.The average fecal immunoglobulins contents concentration level(IgA,IgM and IgG)of Shandong house-fed goat population were 17.13?g/g,317.64?g/g and 166.67?g/g,respectively.Among them,both IgA and IgM content showed significantly difference between breeds,and showed no significantly difference between age groups.The IgA and IgM content of Laoshan dairy goats were significantly higher than that of noth Laiwu black goats and Lubo goats(P<0.05).The IgG content showed significantly differences between both breeds and age groups.Laiwu black goats showed significantly higher IgG content value than Laoshan dairy goats(P<0.01);the group under 1 year old showed significantly lower than the1-2 year old group and the 2 year old group(P<0.01).IgM and IgG,content showed a very significantly interaction between age and variety(P<0.05).4.Among the 9 routine blood test indicators measured in the Shandong house-fed goat population,except for the total number of white blood cells and the number of lymphocytes,the other 7 indicators showed significantly differences between breeds(P<0.01).Between age groups,significantly differences were detected on 5 indicators: the total number of red blood cells,the average red blood cell volume,the hemoglobin content,the hemoglobin concentration,and the intermediate cells.Interaction analysis confirmed that indicators suchas intermediate cells,total red blood cells,hemoglobin content,and hemoglobin concentration were affected by both species and age(P<0.01).5.Correlation analysis result showed that:(1)EPG was extremely significantly negatively correlated with fecal IgG concentration,IgM concentration,and hemoglobin content(P<0.01),significantly negatively correlated with fecal cortisol content and total red blood cells(P<0.05),and was significantly positively correlated with the average hemoglobin content(P<0.05).(2)The cortisol concentration was extremely significantly correlated with IgA concentration,IgG concentration,and IgM concentration in feces reached extremely significant levels(P<0.01),and significantly negatively correlated with hemoglobin content(P<0.05).(3)Fecal IgA concentration showed significantly positive correlation with average volume of red blood cells in stool(P<0.05),and showed significantly negative correlation with the total number of red blood cells and hemoglobin content(P <0.05).Fecal IgG showed significantly positive correlation with total hemoglobin content,and hemoglobin concentration(P<0.05).Fecal IgM showed significantly positive correlation with the average volume of red blood cells(P<0.01),and showed significantly negative correlation with the hemoglobin content(P<0.01).(4)Among the 9 routine blood test indicators,all of them showed positively or negatively significantly correlation(P<0.01)between each other but 8indicator pairs: the total number of red blood cells-total white blood cells,total red blood cells-lymphocytes,average red blood cell volume-lymphocytes,average red blood cell volume-granulocytes,hemoglobin content-total white blood cells,hemoglobin content-The eight traits such as lymphocyte number,hemoglobin content-granulocyte number,hemoglobin concentration-lymphocyte number(P>0.05).Overall,the following conclusions have been made.First,the breed and age of goats have an important impact on the degree of parasite infection.Local breeds(such as Laiwu black goats)are more resistant to parasites than cultivated breeds(such as Laoshan diary goats and Lubo goats),goats less than one year old are more susceptible to gastrointestinal parasites,which suggests that we should use different anti-parasite schemes for goats of different breeds and ages.The second is IgG was affected by both species and ages,while fecal cortisol,IgA,and IgM are affected by species only.Among them,fecal cortisol content,IgG concentration,and IgM concentration are significantly negatively correlated with fecalEPG,which indicates the goat body immunity and stress capabilities can be reduced by severely parasite infection.Third,the increasing of goat parasite infection will also worsening anemia. |
PDF Full Text Request