Improving resilience against natural gastrointestinal nematode infections in browsing kids during the dry season in tropical Mexico
Introduction
A previous trial showed that supplementary feeding improved resilience and possibly resistance of browsing Criollo kids against natural infection with gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) during the wet season in tropical Mexico (Torres-Acosta et al., 2004). However, scarcity of vegetation is the major constraint to goat production during the dry season in the tropics (Githigia et al., 2001). In this season the quantity (Ríos and Riley, 1985, Ortega, 1985, Santra et al., 2002) and/or quality (Collier and Beede, 1985) of foraging feed resources deteriorates, thereby increasing the risk of under-nourishment. These environmental conditions also reduce the survival of GIN infective larvae in the vegetation (Uriarte et al., 2003). As a result, GIN transmission is generally lower than in the wet season. However, under such conditions, malnutrition can increase the susceptibility of animals to low levels of nematode infections (Koski and Scott, 2001). Thus, nutrition–parasite interactions in browsing animals at this time are complex and need further investigation. The few studies so far conducted in growing sheep showed that supplementation helped animals to endure the pathophysiological effects of GIN under dry grazing conditions (Van-Houtert et al., 1995, Van-Houtert and Sykes, 1996). At present there is no information available for goats. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementary feeding on the resilience and resistance of Criollo kids against GIN browsing native vegetation during the dry season in tropical Mexico.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
The trial was conducted at the FMVZ-UADY goat farm between February and June 1998 (total duration of 20 weeks). The experiment started when the dry season was well established. The animal management, feeding (browsing), treatment with moxidectin and supplementation were similar to those described by Torres-Acosta et al. (2004). The browsing area may be categorized as low deciduous tropical forest (Flores and Espejel, 1994). Several types of tropical legumes (trees, shrubs, herbs and climbing
Results
After week 5, the goats were allowed to browse outside the enclosure as well as inside owing to a paucity of fodder due to the dry conditions. Much of this additional browsing was, however, destroyed by fire in week 10. Average time at browsing per day was 6 h 45 min. Four kids in the I-NS group were lost from the trial; two in week 5, one in week 7 and another one in week 11. The first two and the last kids were withdrawn due to general weakness. The third kid was lost in the enclosure,
Growth
Supplementary feeding can improve CLWG and DLWG of kids naturally infected with GIN during the dry season of Yucatan independently of anthelmintic (AH) treatment. In the absence of supplementation, AH treatment alone was not enough to improve growth rate of browsing kids during the dry season when nutrient availability was limited. Also, in the absence of supplementation, a lack of AH treatment may lead to the outbreak of some cases of nematodosis even when the infectivity of the browse is low (
Conclusion
Supplementing Criollo kids browsing native vegetation during the dry season can have an important role in the control of the effects of GIN infection in goat herds. Continuous supplementation alone can effectively negate the necessity for anthelmintic treatment for the duration of the dry season without any danger to kid survival or productivity. It is further evident that, during the dry season, under-nourishment is a more important constraint to goat production than is GIN infection.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by CONACYT-México (Project 25019-B) and ECOS-ANUIES (Project M03-A03). We greatly acknowledge the support of the staff at the FMVZ-UADY goat farm. We also thank the technical assistance of MVZ Melchor Capetillo and MVZ Carlos Rocha.
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