Assessment of helminth parasites of pigs in Ibadan, Nigeria

Gastro-intestinal parasitism constitutes an important constraint to pig production in most parts of the world and in Nigeria. These gastrointestinal helminthoses in pigs occasionally cause obvious disease and death, but more commonly, they lead to loss of appetite, reduced weight gain, poor feed utilization, potentiation of other pathogens and condemnation of parts of the carcasses at slaughter. An assessment of helminth parasites of pigs in Ibadan, Nigeria was investigated in this study. A total of 154 pigs of both sexes of Large White, Indigenous and Crosses breeds found were sampled and standard parasitological examinations were carried out on the faecal samples. Out of the 154 pigs examined, 36.36% were positive for helminth parasites of which 24.67% were males, 11.69% were females and the remaining 63.64% were negative for helminth parasites. The eggs of helminth parasites found in this study were those of Ascaris spp. (12.34%), Metastrongylus spp. (9.74%), Oesophagostomum spp. (6.49%), Paragonimus spp. (1.3%), Hyostrongylus spp. (1.3%) and Trichuris spp. (5.19%). Helminth parasites were most prevalent in large white breed of the pigs (27.27%) the crosses (6.49%) and least prevalent in indigenous breeds (2.60%). Eggs of Ascaris spp. (12.34%) and Metastrongylus spp. (9.74%) are the commonest helminth parasite eggs of pigs found in the study while Trichuris spp. had the highest (29.07%) mean eggs per gramme of faeces. In conclusion, regular assessment of helminth parasites in the faeces of pigs in recommended for strategic treatment against helminth parasites and pig farmers are encouraged to prevent the environment from becoming contaminated by infective helminth larvae by practicing good standards of hygiene.