Influence of pathological conditions caused by gastrointestinal parasites infection on pregnant ewe's behavior

ABSTRACT

Background: Infection by helminthes is a main problem affecting sheep, causing significant economic losses. Among theseparasites that may affect sheep, Haemonchus contortus, a hematophagous parasite caused of anemia. The anemia due toparasitosis causes animal apathy, the main goal of most studies is to show how anemia affects animal performance, withlittle research on the relationship of animal behavior and helminthosis. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of anemia caused by helminthes on the behavior of pregnant ewes before and after antihelminthic treatment.Material, Methods & Results: Pregnant ewes (n = 18) Lacaune breed from the same herd in Southern of Brazil wereclassified into three groups of six animals each according to their degree of anemia based on the Famacha method (F) andhematocrit counts (H) in addition to fecal examination on day 0 of the study. The groups were formed as follow Group A(level 1-2 (F), (H) ≥ 30%), Group B (level 3 (F); (H) among 21-29%), and Group C (level 4-5 (F); (H) ≤ 20%). Famachamethod, hematological analysis and fecal examination were repeated at the end of the experiment on day 18. Behavioralassessment was done concomitantly by two methods: direct temporal observation with real-time registration and continuous observation with conspicuous registration for each event performed by the animal. Animal behavior was observedduring six periods (P1 to P6) six h a day (0800-1000 AM, 1200-0200 PM, and from 0400-0600 PM), being tree-pointperiods prior (P1, P2 and P3) and three after the antihelminthic treatment (P4, P5 and P6). The animals from the Group Chad higher eggs per gram (EPG) counts in faces when compared to other groups. The animals from the Group B showedhigher ratios of the variable lying ruminating (1.74) when compared to the Group A. Animals from the Group C showedhigher...