Evaluation and Correlation of Multiple Anthelmintic Resistances to Gastrointestinal Nematodes Using Different Fecal Egg Count Reduction Methods in Small Ruminants of Punjab, India

Purpose Concordance of multiple anthelmintic resistances for gastrointestinal nematodes in small ruminants by three average-based and two individually based fecal egg count reduction (FECR) tests was evaluated and corrected. Methods Sheep and goats (>= 8 weeks) from five farms were randomly assigned to three treatment groups (I, II, III; n = 10 per group) and one untreated control group (Group IV; n = 10). Group I received fenbendazole at the dose rate of 5 and 10 mg/kg, Group II received ivermectin at the dose rate of 0.2 and 0.4 mg/kg, and Group III received levamisole at the dose rate of 8 and 12 mg/kg body weight orally for sheep and goat, respectively. Three average-based methods of FECR (FECR1, FECR2 and FECR3) and two individually based methods of FECR (iFECR(1) and iFECR(2)) were evaluated. Results For fenbendazole resistance, Spearman correlation coefficient for FECR1 was non-significant with other formulae, but for FECR2 with FECR3, FECR3 with iFECR(1) and iFECR(1) with iFECR(2) coincidence was significant at 1%, while for FECR2 with iFECR(2) and FECR3 with iFECR(2) it was significant at 5%. Spearman correlation coefficients for ivermectin resistance were significant at 1% level and for levamisole it showed significant coincidence at 1% for FECR1 with FECR2 and iFECR(1), FECR2 with FECR3 and iFECR(1), and iFECR(1) with iFECR(2), while for FECR1 with FECR3 and iFECR(2) coincidence was significant at 5% level. Concordance of kappa values indicated that the coincidence of the prevalence of anthelmintic resistance (95% CI) among the five farms was non-significant. Conclusions Concordance between the standard average-based FECR and individually based methods suggests that either method could be applied to small ruminant farms.