Prevalence of abomasal nematodes in slaughtered goats at industrial Urmia slaughterhouse, West Azerbaijan province, Northwest of Iran.

Parasitic infections are generally regarded as the most prevalent and important health problems of grazing ruminants in Iran. Gastro-Intestinal nematode parasite infections are a major constraint to the small ruminants (sheep and goat) industry and cause to reduce weight gains, growth rate, nutrient utilization and less meat, wool and milk production, also increased costs of management, treatment and even mortality in several cases. A study was carried out to estimate the prevalence abomasal nematodes of slaughtered goats at the Industrial Urmia slaughterhouse from March 2012 to March 2013. During the study period, 130 abomasums of goats were examined according to standard procedures. Four genera of nematodes were identified in the goats abomasum with an overall prevalence of 46.14%. The specific prevalence observed was Ostertagia ostertagi (12.30%), Ostertagia circumcincta. (7.69%), Haemonchus contortus (16.92%) and Marshallagia marshalli (9.23%). Among the species found Haemonchus contortus was the most prevalent and frequent species. No significant correlation was observed between the prevalence of infection with seasons and ages.