Phenotyping and Prevalence ofHaemonchus contortus (Nematoda: Trichostongylidae)in Ruminants from Endemic Areas of Pakistan:
Influence of Host Species and Geographical Area on Phenotypic Traits
of Worms
Rehana Bibi1,
Kiran Afshan2, Imtiaz Ahmad Khan3, Zubaria
Iqbal1, Amjad Rashid Kayani1, Muhammad Mushtaq1,
Muhammad Irfan1, Mazhar Qayyum1* and Mohammad Farooque
Hassan4
1Department of Zoology and Biology,
Faculty of Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi,
Pakistan; 2Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of
Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam UniversityIslamabad, Pakistan; 3Department of Pathobiology,
Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture
University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan; 4Shaheed
Benazir Bhutto University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Sakrand,
Sindh, Pakistan *Corresponding author:
mazhar_dr@yahoo.com
Abstract
The objectives of the current study were to find
the prevalence and phenotyping of adult Haemonchuscontortus in
sheep, goats and cattle from different geographical areas of Pakistan. We used
300 abomasa collected from slaughtered animals with total worm burden of 1950
and only adult worms were used for morphological measurements. Microscopic method was applied on the
standardized measurements.The H. contortus size variations were
studied by multivariate analyses. The result showed the prevalence of infection
was 46.66% (140/300),
with sheep (55%), goats (50%) and cattle (35%). The gubernaculum lengths,
cuticular ridges and esophagus length of the worms showed significant (P<0.05)
difference among three host species. The linguiform morphs were predominant in
goats (72%), cattle (70%) and sheep (64%) followed by knobbed and smooth morph. The
size variation on phenotypic traits showed principal
component I (PCI) 60% and second principal component (PCII) 34% due to geographical areas and the host species.
The result reported 14 numbers of isolates
shared by sheep, goats and cattle demonstrating the close relationship between
domestic animals epidemiology. The
study concluded that Punjab province and
its adjoining areas are under a high burden of
Haemonchus infection in livestock animals. Furthermore, it suggests
that due to existence of multiple isolates of Haemonchus species problem
of anthelmintic resistance occurs which demands further investigation.