Donkey endoparasites in an organic farm

Aim of the work. Due to the lack of data about donkey parasites, the aim of this work was to aquire direct informations about parasites of donkey, in order to highlight peculiar epidemiological patterns and possible differences with the horse. In addition, the availability of a large group of untreated equids made it possible to highlight parasitological features seldom investigated in horses. Materials and methods. The research was performed in the organic donkey farm Montebaducco, in Salvarano di Quattro Castella (Reggio Emilia) which, housing a population of about 600 individuals, is the largest in Europe. It is an outdoor and closed-cycle farm, where the animals have never underwent antihelminthic treatments. The factory main activity is the milk production. In July 2009, 72 faecal samples from microchip-identified donkeys were collected and data about animals were obtained. Each specimen was examined using quali-quantitative coprological analysis and individual coprocoltures were performed to obtain the strongyle eggs development up to the third larval stage (L3). The percentage of L3s belonging to different genera or species was used to estimate the number of eggs belonging to the different genera or species identified after coproculture. The relationship between parasitological results and sex (male and female), age (0-6 months, 6-24 months, 2-5 years, 5-10 years, more than 10 years), breeding category (foals with mare, mare with foals, pregnant mares, lactating mares, others), stable (five different farm areas) has been analyzed using the Pearson’s 2 and the Kruskal-Wallis test for prevalence and quantitative data respectively, while the Spearman's rank correlation test was used to evaluate the correlation between quantitative variables. Significance was set at p<0.05. Results. The coprological examination allowed to identify: strongyles (prevalence 93,83%; abundance 737,38 Eggs Per Gram); ascarids (18,05%; 32,78 EPG); pinworms (9,72%; 1,94 EPG); Trichuris sp. (1,39%; 0 EPG); Eimeria leuckarti (1,39%; 1,39 Oocysts PG). L3s belonging to 8 distinct larval morphological groups were identified; they were grouped in small strongyles (93.1%, 659,1 Larvae Per Gram), Strongylus vulgaris (76.4%, 74.5 LPG), Strongylus edentatus (6.9%, 0.5 LPG), Triodontophorus sp. (18.1%, 2.6 LPG), Trichostrongylus sp. (12.5%, 1.1 LPG). No significant difference emerged among donkeys relayed in different areas. About sex, differences emerged only for S. vulgaris that was significantly more prevalent and abundant in females. Regarding age, ascarids were more prevalent and abundant in the younger age class (0-6 months); small strongyles were more prevalent and abundant in the older age classes, as well as S. vulgaris. The evidence of a significant positive correlation between strongyles and age, and of a negative correlation between ascarids and age has further confirmed these observations. Finally, the analysis carried out among productive categories showed statistically significant differences in the prevalence of small strongyles and S. vulgaris, and in the abundance of small strongyles, S. vulgaris and Triodontophorus. In particular we have observed very low prevalences and abundances in foals and very high abundances of S. vulgaris in lactating mares. Conclusions. This work confirms the dominance of small strongyles in the biotic community of equine parasites, even in the absence of treatments, emphasizing, conversely, a prevalence of S. vulgaris very far from the low prevalences usually reported also in donkeys (Wells D. et al, 1998, Vet Parasitol, 77: 163-177). It suggests that the decline of S. vulgaris accounted for in literature (Herd R., 1990, Comp Contin Educ Pract Vet, 12: 732-736) is probably not to be considered a fact. In addition, some issues, never highlighted in horses before, emerged, such as the role of lactating mares in the epidemiology of S. vulgaris. Finally, while the importance of the very young ...