Seasonal incidence of parasitic diseases in bovines of south western Gujarat (Junagadh), India

The current study was conducted to investigate the incidence of parasitic diseases in bovines which were sick and brought at veterinary hospital for treatment. A total of 366 samples were investigated from cattle (n = 175) and buffaloes (n = 191) presented at Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex (TVCC), Veterinary College, Junagadh, Gujarat during January to December 2014. Examination of Giemsa-stained peripheral blood smears exhibited that 58.6 % of cattle and 41.2 % of buffaloes were infected with haemoparasites comprising Babesia bigemina, Theileria annulata, and Anaplasma marginale @ of 54.0, 3.4 and 1.1 in cattle and 38.8, 1.2 and 1.2 percent in buffaloes, respectively. The incidence of total haemoparasites and B. bigemina infections was significantly higher (p 0.05). Seasonal prevalence of GI parasites was highest in summer in both cattle and buffaloes, the data being statistically non-significant (p > 0.05). However, the incidence of B. sulcata in both cattle (19.3 %) and buffaloes (28.3 %) was higher in comparisons to other GI parasites. The present investigation emphasized that B. bigemina and B. sulcata are the most important parasites of bovines of this region.