Vol. 10, Special Issue 7 (2021)

Author(s):
R Selvam

Abstract:
The faecal egg count and packed cell volume are parameters used for evaluation of natural resistance against gastrointestinal nematode infection. This study has been carried out to analysis the correlation among the indicator traits for gastrointestinal nematode infection such as FEC, PCV and gain in body weight in Vembur breed of sheep by Pearson correlation coefficient and Spearman's Rank-Order Correlation coefficient methods. The overall least-squares mean for log FEC in Livestock Farm Complex, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Tirunelveli and District Livestock Farm, Abishegappatti, Tirunelveli were 5.0097±0.181 and 6.1911±0.304, the least-squares mean for PCV were 32.57±0.732% and 26.90±0.623% and the least squares mean for ADG gain were -0.69714±0.33 and -1.5731±0.38 kg, respectively. The Pearson Correlation analysis of log-transformed faecal egg count, PCV and ADG showed that there is a highly significant negative correlation between FEC and PCV (-0.787) and between PCV and ADG (-0.660) at the 0.01 level. FEC is positively correlated with body weight gain, which is not significant (0.339). Spearman's RHO Correlations analysis indicated that the FEC had negative associations with PCV (-0.796) and PCV with ADG (-0.602) which are highly significant (P<0.01) and FEC exhibited a positive association with ADG (0.124) but it was not significant. The result implies that if gastrointestinal nematodes egg counts increases then, PCV reduces. The correlation of PCV and FEC may assist in predicting natural resistance to gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep breeds.