Effect of mineral salt enriched or not with Ionophores on the frequency of eimeriídeos in young female goats

Abstract

The exploitation of animals in Brazil is growing due to their important as a food source. Concerning the health aspect, it is believed that intestinal parasites have became a serious obstacle to goat raising, with emphasis on coccidiosis, which is becoming a limiting factor for this operation. The objective was to understand the action of the ionophores salinomycin and monensin in the control of eimeriosis in female goats. The study was conducted between December 2006 and March 2008, where 33 females were used, ranging in age from 82 to 124 days in the beginning of the experiment. Females were assigned to three treatments, with 11 animals each. As the T0 (control) received Caprinofós mineral salt, those of T1 received Caprinofós added with salinomycin at a 1.5% rate and T2 received Caprinofós enriched with 1.5% Rumensin, which is equivalent to 1,500 ppm monensin. In the treatments, the salts were freely offered in covered troughs throughout the whole experimental period. The weight and fecal samples were taken every 14 days to monitor mean weight gain, parasitological diagnosis and quantitative analysis. The study showed that there was no significant difference in reducing the OOPG in relation to treatments, because it did not show satisfactory results in reducing the parasite load of Eimeria. It was concluded that the addition of the two ionophores to a complete mineral mix, on these dosages, did not favor the control of eimeriosis. The species found were E. caprina, E. ninakohlyakimovae, E. christenseni and E. alijevi.