THE PREVALENCE AND FACTORS OF BLOOD PARASITE INFECTION IN DAIRY COW IN WARITCHAPHUM DAIRY COOPERATIVE LTD. AREA

Abstract

            The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence and risk factors of blood parasite infection and evaluate packed cell volume (PCV) in dairy cows. Cross sectional study was conducted to randomly blood sample collection from 275 dairy cows from 55 farms in the area of Waritchaphum Dairy Cooperative, Waritchaphum District, Sakon Nakhon Province. Blood parasite was investigated by thin blood smear examination with Giemsa-satain technique including the hematocrit centrifugation technique was conducted to evaluate PCV. The results found 107 (38.90%) dairy cows infected with blood parasite. Genus Anaplasma spp was infected in 75 cows and divided into two species such as A. marginale (53.33%) and A. centrale (46.67%) and another 32 cows were infected with Babesia bigemina (29.90%). In the group of 107 infected cows blood parasite mixed infection was found in 12 cows (11.21%), however there was not found Trypanosome spp. and Theileria spp. infection in this study. The percentage of PCV of the blood parasite infected group ranged between 16% - 35% with an average PCV 27.07% with 13 of 107 infected cows (12.15%) had lower PCV than the normal range. The dairy farms which had been exposed to blood parasites in the dairy population had 5.02 times re-infection compared to unexposed farm (P < 0.05). This study defined the moderate blood parasite infection and anemia in the dairy cows of Waritchaphum Dairy Cooperative Ltd., between September 2020 to March 2021.