ECOLOGICAL AND EPIZOOTOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ANOPLOCEPHALIDOSIS OF SMALL RUMINANTS IN THE ALTAI REGION FARMS

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify in the Altay Region the most pathogenic helminths among small livestock that threaten the health of farm animals, and their harmfulness and extent of spread. Using the coprooscopic method, fecal samples from sheep of 3 groups were examined: up to one year, from 1 to 2 years and over 2 years. Using the method of complete helminthological autopsies, 18 heads of sheep were opened on farms, of which 11 were aged from 1 to 2 years and 7 heads were older than 2 years. We studied the timing of infection in lambs by monthly examination of the same animals, starting from two months of age until they reach two years of age. All lambs were from the same farm; no anticestodal measures were carried out, so the natural course of the invasion was not disturbed. The survey began at the end of May 2020 with a group of lambs that reached two months of age in the amount of 26 heads. The number of oribatid mites was studied by collecting oribatid mites using a special technique. From the class of cestodes among sheep, 5 species are most often recorded with an average level of extensive infestation from 0.5 to 44.4 %. Anoplocephalid eggs were first discovered in lambs of the current year of birth in July. Moniesia were found throughout the year in young animals from one to two years of age. In March, April, and May they were recorded in single animals in this group of sheep. The seasonal dynamics of the number of oribatid ticks is directly dependent on natural and climatic conditions: significantly fewer ticks were recorded in the steppe zone than in the forest-steppe and floodplain zones. The results of the study show that monieziosis in young lambs kept on pasture is detected coprologically in the conditions of the Altai Region no earlier than July. Two peaks of activity of the intermediate hosts of moniesia, oribatid mites, have been recorded: spring and autumn.