Incidence of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Pavo cristatus under Cage System and Comparative Efficacy of Two Anthelmintics

This study was conducted at the Jallo Wildlife Park, Lahore. The fecal samples were collected from 30 peafowl. The freshly dropped feces free from stones and dust were collected in labeled fecal cups with the help of sterilized spatula. The fecal cups were labeled with sample number, gender, date and anthalmentic drug treatment status. For safe transportation, both fecal samples were placed in cooler with ice packs. For examination samples were brought to Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Government College University, Faisalabad within 24 h.

The deworming of peafowl was done after first sampling by using two types of anthelmintic drugs, the Albendazole and the Levamisole. To check the efficacy of these two anthelmintic drugs, 30 peafowls were divided into two groups, each of 15 birds. One group was treated with Albendazole and the second was treated with Levamisole. After deworming, the fecal samples were again collected on day 7 and 15. The anthelmintic drugs were administered to the birds by mixing in drinking water. The dose of drug required for each bird was calculated on the basis of body weight as prescribed on the label (Khan et al., 2010; Tanveer et al., 2011).

The fecal samples were examined through qualitative and quantitative examination to detect the parasitic eggs and oocysts. The qualitative examination was performed by using flotation method. The flotation method was performed by using the protocol proposed by Dranzoa et al. (1999). Endo-parasites were identified by using identification key by Jaiswal et al. (2013). The quantitative examination was done by using modified Macmaster’s egg counting technique. (Khan et al., 2010).

The prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was calculated by using following formula proposed by Fiaz (2013).

After measuring the EPG the drug efficacy was calculated by using following formula proposed by Basit et al. (2014).

The prevalence of the data was shown as percentage. To compare the efficacy of the drugs against the parasites, t-test was used.

This study was conducted to check the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in peafowl kept in captivity at Jallo Wildlife Park and to select the best dewormer which gives a better remedy against the gastrointestinal parasites. The coprological examination revealed that 21 peafowl (8 males, 13 females) out of 30 examined peafowl (12 males, 18 females) were infected by the gastrointestinal parasites belonging to phyla Apicomplexa, Nematode and Platyhelminthes. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal parasite was 70% having total EPG 9150. The species found were Eimeria sp., Ascaridia sp., Strongyloides sp., Ascaris sp., Heterakis sp. and Hymenolepis sp. with the relevant prevalence 66.33%, 3.33%, 3.33%, 6.67%,

EPG, Egg per gram of feces.

N, no. of samples examined; S, Significant (p ≤ 0.05).

3.33 % and 10% respectively (Table I). The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites (70%) recorded in the present study correlated with the findings of Ashraf et al. (2002) and Basit et al. (2014). They reported the overall prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes as 56.32% and 80.77%, respectively in peafowl at Lahore zoo.

In the present study, the most dominant parasitic species was Eimeria sp. having a highest prevalence 66.33%, which closely resembles with the study of Marniche et al. (2017) who found the highest prevalence of Eimeria sp. in blue peacocks at El Hamma test garden (58.30%) and Ben Aknoun National Park, Algeria (33.30%), respectively. Similar findings were also reported by Kathiravan et al. (2017). The prevalence of Hymenolepis sp. in the present study was 3.33%, which resembled the findings of Kathiravan et al. (2017) who found the prevalence of Hymenolepis sp., as 4.16 %. The Ascaridia sp. and Heterakis sp. had least prevalence 3.33%, which deviated from the study of Basit et al. (2014) and Ashraf et al. (2002). The highest prevalence of Eimeria sp. and least prevalence of Ascaridia sp., Strongyloides sp., Ascaris sp., Heterakis sp., and Hymenolepis sp. in the present study was due to the reason that the peafowl at Jallo Wildlife Park were regularly treated with anthelmintic drugs (personal communication), which are effective against cestodes and nematodes but not effective against Eimeria.

In the present study, the infected peafowl were treated with two broad spectrum anthelmintics to reduce the gastrointestinal parasites and to check their comparative efficacy against these parasites (Table II). After the drugs administration, only Eimeria sp. was observed. The post-treatment comparative occurrence of Eimeria sp. showed that the number of eggs of Eimeria sp. were significantly different (t= 3.749; p= 0.054) in Albendazole and Levamisole treated groups as the Albendazole mode of action was slow at day 7 and it progressively increase at day 15 while the Lemavisole mode of action was immediate. At day 7, the EPG of Eimeria sp. in Albendazole treated group was significantly higher than the Lemavisole treated group. At day 15, the EPG of Eimeria sp. in Albendazole treated group was significantly higher than the Levamisole treated group (Table II). The Eimeria sp. persisted even after the drug administration because it is coccidian while the Albendazole and Levamisole are anthelmintic drugs, therefore their EPG reduced to some extant but not eliminated completely.

Table III. Drug efficacy of Albendazole and Lavamisole against gastrointestinal parasites in P. cristatus at Jallo Wildlife Park Lahore.

EPG, Egg per gram of feces.

The present study revealed that the both drugs were effective in elimination of gastrointestinal parasites but Lemavisole was more efficacious. The efficacy of Levamisole on day 7 and day 15 was greater than Albendazole on day 7 and day 15 (Table III). These results correlates with the study of Ashraf et al. (2002) who reported that the Levamisole efficacy was 88.65% on day 5 and 97.93% on day 10 was greater than Albendazole 83.15% on day 5 and 95.6% on day 10. However, our findings are different from that of Basit et al. (2014) who reported that the Albendazole was more effective against the helminths in peafowl having efficacy 94.92% as compared to Pyrantel pamoate (78.34%).

The peafowls at Jallo Wildlife Park were infected with gastrointestinal parasites but physically they were healthy and active. As the Jallo wildlife Park is a public recreation point, visitors presence distress the peafowl. They lived in close association with each other and could not fly because of limited cage space. The park had poor sanitary conditions and sand was used as bedding material in the cages, which was not cleaned properly and acted as a reservoir of parasites and facilitated the transfer of parasites from feces to the bird. However, the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths was successfully controlled by Albendazole and Levamisole except Eimeria sp. which persisted even after the treatment. Although, its EPG reduced to some extent but it was not eliminated completely. The Levamisole was more effective anthelmintic against gastrointestinal parasites. The use of anti-coccidian drugs alone or in combination with other anthelmintic drugs are recommended.

We are thankful to Higher Education Commission (HEC) for providing financial assistance under project No. 5656/NRPU/RND/HEC/2016.

Authors have declared no potential conflict of interest.