Prevalence and identification of ectoparasites fauna in small ruminants in and around Adami Tulu, East Shawa zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted with the aim of identifying and estimating the prevalence of ecto-parasites in small ruminants in and around Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center. A total of 400 small ruminants (244 Caprine and 156 Ovine) were sampled and examined for the presence of ecto-parasites.

External parasites were found with overall prevalence of 148 (37.0 %) in which caprine and ovine were infested with the prevalence of 34.8% and 40.4%, respectively. Proportion of ectoparasite in descending order were 17.2% ticks, 11.5% mite, 8% lice 7.2% fleas and 0.5% keds. In total about 12 ectoparasites were recorded up at genus level. In the present study, there was no statistically significant association between the prevalence of ectoparasites and the species, sex, and age of small ruminants. However, ectoparasite infestation was significantly (p<0.05) higher in poor body condition animals than the other categories. Overall, there was high ectoparasites prevalence in the study area which could hamper small ruminants’ production. Hence, attention should be given to the problem and appropriate disease mitigation should be put in place to improve the output from these animals.