Journal article
Greater intensity and frequency of Cryptosporidium and Giardia oocyst shedding beyond the neonatal period is associated with reductions in growth, carcase weight and dressing efficiency in sheep
C Jacobson, A Williams, R Yang, U Ryan, I Carmichael, AJ Campbell, GE Gardner
Veterinary Parasitology | Published : 2016
Abstract
Associations between intensity and frequency of Cryptosporidium and Giardia shedding with growth, carcase weight and dressing% were investigated using a longitudinal study of 1182 lambs on eight Australian farms. Live weight was recorded and faecal samples were collected on three sampling occasions; weaning (approximately 12 weeks of age), post-weaning (approximately 19 weeks) and pre-slaughter (approximately 29 weeks). Hot standard carcase weight (HSCW) and dressing% were measured at slaughter. Faecal samples were screened for presence and concentration of Cryptosporidium, Giardia and Haemonchus oocysts using a quantitative PCR. Trichostrongylid eggs were quantified with modified McMaster f..
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Awarded by Australian Wool Innovation
Funding Acknowledgements
This study was funded by Meat and Livestock Australia (B.AHE.0027), Australian Wool Innovation Limited and the Australian Government. We thank the participating farmers for their support and providing access to sheep for sample collection. We thank Justin Hoad for providing faecal samples from NSW. Collection of samples, DNA extraction and WEC for the samples from WA farms were performed by Joshua Sweeny. Thanks also go to Josephine Ng-Hublin for DNA extraction of faecal samples collected from SA, NSW and Vic. We thank Peter Hunt (CSIRO) for his advice and assistance with the development and validation of the Haemonchus qPCR. We thank Andrea Paparini for his feedback on statistical analyses for this study, and to Johann Schroder for providing helpful editorial feedback on the manuscript. We also thank the reviewers of this paper for helpful feedback that was incorporated into the final manuscript.