Boubas G., Theodoridis Y.

ABSTRACT: During the period December 1986 – February 1988, the digestive tracts of 134 male and female goats, of local breed, aged between 2-8 years which come from Thessaly region, were examined respect to identification and seasonal fluctuation of nematode parasites. The 130 (97%) of  the examined goats were found to be infected with 13 different parasites. The nematodes which were found out of the different parts of the digestive tracts were: esophagus, Congylonema pulchrum (20%), abomasum, Haemonchus contortus (85.38%), Teladorsagia circumcincta (66.77%) and Trichostrongylus axei (0.77%), small intestines, Trichostrongylus colubriformis (19.23%), Copperia curticei (3.85%), Nematodirus filicollis (36.92%), N. helvetianus (2.31%), N. spathiger (10.0%) and Bunostomum trigonocephalum (7.69%) and finally, large intestines, Chabertia ovina (44.6%), Trichuris ovis (3.07%) and Skrjabinema ovis (13.06%). From the nematodes which were found in this study, 10 have been also previously found in goats in Greece, while Copperia curticei, Nematodirus helvetianus and N. spathiger are mentioned for the first time. Eighty four point six per cent (84.6%) of the parasitized animals were infected with more than one different parasites whereas 15.4% only had simple infection. The nematodes Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Nematodirus filicollis and Chabertia ovina, were continually found during the period of the study, while the rest nematodes during certain months only.