Do Live Weight, Body Condition Score, Back Muscle or Back-Fat Reserves Create the Suspicion of Goats Infected with Eimeria or Trichostrongylids?
by
, , ,
Martin Ptáček
1,*
,
Iveta Angela Kyriánová
2, 
Jana Nápravníková
2,
Jaromír Ducháček
1,
Tomáš Husák
2,
Alfonso J. Chay-Canul
3,
Claudia Zaragoza-Vera
3,
Luis Cruz-Bacab
3 and
Jaroslav Vadlejch
2
1
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic
2
Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic
3
División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Villahermosa 86280, Tabasco, Mexico
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2021, 11(12), 3591; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123591
Submission received: 18 October 2021
/
Revised: 10 December 2021
/
Accepted: 15 December 2021
/
Published: 18 December 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)
Simple Summary
Response of live weight, body-condition score (BCS) depth of musculus longissimus thoracis et lumborum (MLTL) and back-fat thickness after infections with Eimeria sp. (EIM) and strongylid nematodes (STR) was investigated in a selected flock of dairy goats throughout the lactation period. Regression–correlation analysis demonstrated a significant interrelation of BCS to EIM exposure (BCS = 2.752 − 0.666 × 10−3 × EIM; r = −0.198). Goat nutritional status was not significantly correlated with STR infection. A linear tendency (p = 0.092), however, was detected for the response of MLTL to STR infection. An increase in infection intensity of 1000 eggs per gramme was accompanied by a 0.3 mm decrease in MLLT.
Abstract
Thirty goats of the breeds Czech Brown Shorthaired and Czech White Shorthaired and their crosses were randomly selected from a flock at a farm in the Czech Republic. All animals were monitored for one year at monthly intervals for their nutritional status (live weight, LW; body-condition score, BCS; depth of musculus longissimus thoracis et lumborum, MLTL; back-fat thickness, BT) and infection intensity with Eimeria sp. (EIM) and strongylid nematodes (STR). Regression–correlation analysis showed a possible interrelation of BCS with EIM infection. Analysis of muscle and fat reserves indicated that BT was better than MLTL in identifying EIM infection. Goat nutritional status was not significantly correlated with STR infection. A linear tendency (p = 0.092), however, was detected for the response of MLTL to STR infection. Results of this study indicated theoretical use of BCS for Eimeria identification and suggested some perspective of BCS for targeting animals infected by strongylid nematode. Validity of our results, however, was limited by number of observed animals managed under specific breeding conditions.
