The occurrence of sheep gastrointestinal parasites in the Slovak Republic

The occurrence of sheep gastrointestinal parasites was assessed on 37 sheep farms in the Slovak Republic from June to November 2003 and 2004. The sheep farms carried mainly Tsigaja, Valachian and Merino breeds. A total of 15 19 sheep faecal samples were analysed in order to determine the presence of parasite eggs on surveyed farms. Strongyle eggs were identified in 1255 samples (82.6%), Nenzatodirus spp. in 481 samples (31.7%), Strongyloides papillosus in 431 samples (28.4%) Moniezia spp. in 291 samples (19.2%) and Trichuris spp. in 148 samples (9.7%). In 27 out of 37 examined sheep farms coprocultures were prepared and the third stage larvae were morphologically identified. Teladorsagia/Ostertagia spp. (100% of farms), Trichostrongylus spp.(92.6% of farms), Chabertia spp. (81.5% of farms) and Oesophagostomum spp. (70.4% of farms) were the most prevalent genera. High numbers of surveyed farms carried also other genera as Haemonchus spp. (48.1% of farms), Cooperia spp. (37.0% of farms), Nematodirus spp. (22.2% of farms) and Bunostoinum spp. (18.5% of farms). Teladorsagia/Ostertagia spp. were the most dominant genera on 17 out of 27 sheep farms. Trichostrongylus spp. was dominant on 4 farms, Chabertia spp. on 3 farms, Haemonchus spp. on 2 farms and Oesophagostomum spp. on I farm. Mean values of strongyle eggs per gram (EPG) varied from 0 to maximum value of 3731.4.