Prevalence and Diversity of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Goats Reared in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas of Nashik, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Gastrointestinal (GI) parasitism is one of the most significant and persistent constraints on small-ruminant health, welfare and productivity throughout the tropical and subtropical world, yet systematic parasitological data from rapidly urbanising Indian cities remain conspicuously scarce. Goat keeping continues to expand within and around Indian urban centres even as agricultural land is converted to residential and industrial use, creating novel epidemiological conditions – shrinking grazing areas, high stocking density, mixed-species housing, irregular deworming and limited veterinary access – whose influence on gastrointestinal parasite transmission is poorly characterised. The present investigation was therefore designed to generate baseline coprological data on the prevalence and species-wise distribution of gastrointestinal parasites infecting goats maintained under urban and peri-urban husbandry systems in Nashik city, Maharashtra, India, a Deccan Plateau district traversed by the Godavari river system. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 300 goats drawn by simple random sampling from organised farms, unorganised smallholdings and household livestock units within and around the city. Fresh faecal samples were collected per rectum, preserved appropriately for qualitative and quantitative analysis, and examined by direct smear, saturated salt/sugar flotation, formalin–ether sedimentation and the modified McMaster quantitative egg-counting technique; parasite stages were identified using standard morphological and morphometric criteria. Of the 300 samples examined, 198 (66.00%) were positive for one or more gastrointestinal parasites. Six parasite taxa were recovered, spanning Nematoda, Trematoda, Cestoda and Protozoa: Haemonchus contortus (41.41% of positive samples), Trichostrongylus spp. (19.19%), Strongyloides spp. (10.61%), Eimeria spp. (9.09%), Moniezia spp. (8.08%) and Fasciola gigantica (6.06%), with mixed infections recorded in a further 5.56% of positive samples. These findings provide a coprological baseline for gastrointestinal parasitism in goats maintained under urban and peri-urban husbandry conditions in Nashik and indicate the need for continued faecal surveillance and context-appropriate parasite-control practices.