Toxocariasis is a zoonotic disease usually caused by dog and cat roundworms, and Detection and diagnosis is difficult in paratenic and accidental hosts, including humans, as they cannot be detected through conventional methods such as fecal examination. Diagnosis therefore relies on immunological methods and molecular methods such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western Blot, which are both time-consuming and requires sophisticated equipment. In the Philippines, only a few studies are available on seroprevalence. Therefore, there is a need to adapt methods for serodiagnosis of infection in humans for the Philippine setting. A dot enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (dot-ELISA) was standardized using excretory-secretory antigens. Test sera were collected from laboratory rats (Sprague-Dawley strain) experimentally infected with embryonated eggs of and as well as rice field rats naturally infected with and sp. Optimum conditions used were 20 µg/ml antigen concentration and 1:10 serum dilution. The sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values were 90% (95% CI 55.5-99.7%), 100% (95% CI 69.2-100.0%), 100% (95% CI 66.4-100%), and 90.9% (95% CI 58.7-99.8%), respectively. Dot-ELISA has the potential to be developed as a cheaper, simpler, and more practical method for detection of anti- antibodies on accidental hosts. This is a preliminary study conducted on experimental animals before optimization and standardization for human serum samples.

Abstract. Navarra GA, Salvaña FRP, Sepelagio EG, Sanchez CB, Besana CM, Manceras LJS, Bra SG. 2019. Species of forages utilized by farmers producing halal goats in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Philippines. Asian J Ethnobiol 2: 1-7. Local production of small ruminants necessitates forage assessment considering the fact that animals are typically fed with locally available plant species. This study was carried out to determine the species of plants used as forage by raisers producing halal goats in BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), Philippines. Personal interview to the respondents producing halal goats was conducted and a questionnaire was used to determine species of forages. A total of eight municipalities were included in the survey, seven of which were from Maguindanao and one was from Lanao del Sur. Purposive sampling was used in the survey. A total of 47 respondents was interviewed based on the criteria: a.) a believer of Islam b) with 5 to 24 breeder does; and c.) willingness of the farm owner to participate in the survey. All respondents fall to these criteria were interviewed. Forage species including paragrass (Brachiaria mutica), carabao grass (Paspalum conjugatum), ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala), and kakawate (Gliricidia sepium) were used by all respondents in all sampling sites. Other species included malunggay (Moringa oleifera), banana (Musa balbisiana), stylo (Stylosanthes humilis), centrosema (Centrosema pubescens), langka (Artocarpus heterophyllus), pinto peanut (Arachis pintoi), napier (Pennisetum purpureum), barnyard grass (Echinochloa sp.), Guinea grass (Panicum maximum), indigofera (Indigofera tinctoria), calliandra (Calliandra calothrysus), katurai (Sesbania grandiflora) and rensonii (Desmodium rensonii). Only eleven percent (11%) of the respondents utilized improved and domesticated species of forages. Improved and domesticated forage species are plants commonly cultivated forage for livestock production. Some species of plants present in open vegetated areas like Erigeron canadensis, Sphagneticola trilobata, Ageratum conyzoides and Urena lobata were also consumed by goats according to the respondents. There were also plant-related toxicosis observed by the respondents caused by C. pubescens and U. lobata. Most of the respondents in BARMM are not utilizing improved and domesticated species of forages and rely on locally available forages present in rangeland. Most of them have limited knowledge on the nutritional requirements of goats. There is a need to enhance the understanding of farmers on the importance of proper forage selection and combination.

In small ruminant production, resource inventory is necessary. Among these, forage inventory and assessment are essential considering the fact that it is a major source of feedstuff for animals. In the Philippines, pioneering Halal goat research have been conducted in Region XII, however, forage inventory utilized in Halal goat production has not been done. This study aims to provide information on different species of plant utilized by goat raisers as forage. The study was conducted in 3 provinces of Region XII, namely North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato, and General Santos City. Four (4) municipalities/cities in each province were included in the assessment. Respondents in each area were selected based on the following criteria from the drafted Philippine National Standards for Halal goat production: a.) a believer of Islam b) with 5 to 24 breeder does; and c.) willingness of the farm owner to participate in the survey in addition to the established basic consideration for Halal goat raising. Respondents were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 61 species of plants belonging to 19 families were utilized as forage by the respondents. Carabao grass (Paspalum conjugatum Bergius) is the most common species of forage with a relative abundance of 0.0949. This was followed by walis-walisan (Sida acuta Burm.f.) (0.0586), napier (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) (0.0566), paragrass (Brachiaria mutica (Forssk.) Stapf.) (0.0566), ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit-) (0.0545), and paragis (Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.) (0.0525). Higher diversity of forage species was recorded in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat based on the computed Simpson's Diversity (0.05322), Simpson's Index of Diversity (0.9468) and Shannon-Weiner Index (3.097). Differences in forage species diversity in all sampling sites were observed. Although all sampling sites are within one region, variability in land covers and climatic conditions can be attributed to species diversity difference.

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This study was carried out in four selected slaughterhouses with different facilities, processing operations, and management practices in Cotabato Province, Mindanao, Philippines. Facilities and equipment were evaluated in terms of presence and functionality. Slaughterhouse personnel were also interviewed to document each slaughterhouse's management practices. Blood, fecal, and organ samples were collected from 35 slaughtered swine and 15 slaughtered cattle. Furthermore, blood, fecal, and organ samples were processed and observed for the presence of different parasite stages. In swine, fecal examination showed an overall parasite prevalence of 60% in observed fecal samples. Parasites observed in fecal samples belong to subclass coccidia (42.86%), Trichuris suis (8.57%), hookworm/strongylid and Strongyloides sp. (5.7%) and Ascaris suum (2.85%). In cattle, fecalysis showed 53.3% prevalence for parasite eggs belonging to Fasciola sp. (33.3%), amphistome and hookworm/strongylid (13.3%), and Capillaria sp. (6.67%). Adult parasites observed in slaughtered cattle were Fasciola sp. (33.3%), amphistomes (26.67%), and Setaria sp. (6.7%). ELISA tests showed that all swine samples were seronegative for cysticercosis while 31.43% were seropositive for Toxoplasma. The present study also showed that most of the slaughterhouses observed have outdated facilities and equipment, as well as inadequate waste disposal systems. Inadequate budget allocation and funding remains to be the primary reasons hindering the upgrading of facilities, infrastructure, and equipment of the selected slaughterhouses. Furthermore, improper slaughterhouse waste disposal may contaminate the environment with infective forms of parasites and pathogens.