DETECTION OF ANTHELMINTIC RESISTANCE IN GASTROINTESTINAL NEMATODES OF SHEEP IN BALOCHISTAN THROUGH FAECAL EGG COUNT REDUCTION TEST AND EGG HATCH ASSAY

The present study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of oxfendazole, levamisole and ivermectin against gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep. Three hundred and twenty sheep comprised four breeds (Balochi, Rakhshani, Kurakul and Balochi/Kurakulcross ) were selected for this experiment. The selected sheep were divided into four groups.First group was treated with oxfendazole, second with Levamisole, third with ivermectin and fourth kept as untreated to serve as control. Faecal samples were collected on day first prior to administration of treatment followed by day 14 post treatment. The efficacy of each anthelmintics was measured using the faecal egg count reduction test and egg hatch test. The arithmetic faecal egg count reduction with oxfendazole, levamisole and ivermectin were recorded 97%, 98% and 99% respectively, which indicated the susceptibility of these anthelmintics against gastrointestinal nematodes. The results of egg hatch test indicated that Lc50 were 0.09931, 0.0894, 0.09302 and 0.086 ug/ml respectively for four sheep breeds, which are less than 0.1ug/ml of oxfendazole. Result indicates that no resistance was found in the eggs with oxfendazole. The egg hatch assay also confirmed the result of faecal egg count reduction test. The qualitative examination of faecal samples after Coproculture revealed four gastrointestinal nematode genera i.e., Haemonchus, Trichostrongylus, Nematodirus and Ostertagia.