Accuracy of the FAMACHA system for on-farm use by sheep and goat producers in the southeastern United States

Burke, J.M.; Kaplan, Ray M.; Miller, J. E.; Terrill, T.H.; Getz, W.R.; Mobini, Seyedmehdi; Valencia, Elide; Williams, M. J.; Williamson, Lisa H.; Vatta, A.F.

doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2007.03.033

Cited by 123 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…A relatively strong relationship between FAMACHA scores and PCV has commonly been reported in sheep and goats (Kaplan et al, 2004;Burke et al, 2007;Sotomaior et al, 2012). However, in contrast with results from the current study, associations between FAMACHA scores and FEC were often (Kaplan et al, 2004), though not always (Burke et al, 2007), weaker than those between FAMACHA scores and PCV.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Patterns of association among FAMACHA scores, FEC, PCV and BW in our study were similar to those reported by Burke et al (2007). A relatively strong relationship between FAMACHA scores and PCV has commonly been reported in sheep and goats (Kaplan et al, 2004;Burke et al, 2007;Sotomaior et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Use of FAMACHA scores to identify animals that would benefit from anthelmintic treatment was proposed by Malan et al (2001) and Van Wyk and Bath (2002) and evaluated by Kaplan et al, (2004), Burke et al (2007) and Getachew et al (2015). Gastrointestinal blood loss caused by blood-feeding GIN such as H. contortus has been shown to coincide with progressive increases in the incidence of subclinical and clinical anemia and associated changes in the color of the ocular mucous membranes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resistance to gastrointestinal parasite infection in Djallonké sheep

Traoré

Notter

Soudré

et al. 2017

Animal

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Gastrointestinal parasitism places serious constraints on small ruminant production. The situation has been exacerbated by development of drug resistance in many parasite populations, leading to interest in identification of animals with genetically mediated resistance or tolerance to nematode infections. This study assessed the response to natural infection with gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) in Djallonké sheep during the rainy season in the Sudan-Guinea Savannah region of Burkina Faso. Haemonchus contortus is the most prevalent GIN at this site and time. Djallonké lambs ( n = 434) were sampled from 40 households and evaluated at a common location in southern Burkina Faso. Lambs were dewormed with levamisole at 2 to 6 months of age and returned to infected pastures. Fecal egg counts (FEC), packed cell volumes (PCV), and FAffa Malan CHArt (FAMACHA © ) scores were determined 28 and 35 days after deworming. Lamb mortality was monitored throughout the experiment. Least-squares means for BW increased from 13.8 ± 0.2 kg at 28 days to 14.0 ± 0.2 kg at 35 days ( P < 0.01). Simple means and medians for FEC were 615 and 100, respectively, at 28 days and 850 and 175, respectively, at 35 days. The FEC exhibited strong right skewness. Following logarithmic transformation and back-transformation of resulting least-squares means to the original scale, FEC were higher ( P < 0.01) for males (208 ± 27) than females (122 ± 10). Least-squares means for PCV decreased ( P < 0.001) from 28 (36.3 ± 0.5%) to 35 days (33.7 ± 0.5%), and were higher ( P < 0.01) for females (36.0 ± 0.4%) than males (33.9 ± 0.7%). Correlations (r) between repeated measurements of BW, FEC, PCV and FAMACHA scores at 28 and 35 days were all positive ( P < 0.001). The correlation between FAMACHA scores and PCV was negative at 28 ( r = − 0.14) and 35 days ( r = − 0.18) ( P < 0.001). This study revealed that BW was an easily measured predictor of the ability of the lamb to resist infection with GIN and maintain PCV, and confirmed that FAMACHA scores are useful indicators of differences in FEC. Approximately 40% of female and 30% of male lambs did not show detectable levels of infection (i.e. FEC = 0) under field conditions. The great variability that was observed in FEC and PCV suggests potential to use Djallonké sheep in breeding programs to enhance resistance to GIN.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resistance to gastrointestinal parasite infection in Djallonké sheep

Traoré

Notter

Soudré

et al. 2017

Animal

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“…Possible variations among breeds (Moors and Gauly, 2009), animal categories and ages (Mahieu et al, 2007), evaluators (Burke et al, 2007), management systems (Reynecke et al, 2011b), environments and facilities must be investigated to determine the real limitations of this method.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sotomaior

Rosalinski-Moraes

Costa

et al. 2012

Veterinary Parasitology

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Sheep and goats are the species of farm animal with the highest growth rate in Paraná State. The main problems facing Paraná State flocks are gastrointestinal parasites and anthelmintic resistance. One of the newest resources used to slow down the development of anthelmintic resistance is the FAMACHA © system, a selective method useful for controlling gastrointestinal verminosis in small ruminants. The purpose of the present research was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the FAMACHA © system in sheep and goats and to compare the results for both species. The conjunctivae of 83 Suffolk ewes and 60 adult cross-bred Boer does were evaluated by the same trained person using the FAMACHA © system. The packed cell value (PCV) served as the gold standard for clinical FAMACHA © evaluation. To calculate the sensitivity and specificity of the FAMACHA © system, different criteria were adopted in turn: animals classified as FAMACHA © (F © ) 4 and 5, or 3, 4 and 5, were consid-ered to be anemic (positive test), and animals classified as F © 1, 2 and 3, or 1 and 2 were considered to be non-anemic (negative test). Three standard values of PCV, namely ≤19%, ≤18% or ≤15%, were used to confirm anemia. At all cut-off levels, the sensitivity increased if F © 3 animals were included as being anemic. However, changes in levels of sensitivity were associated with reciprocal changes in specificity. The sensitivity was higher for sheep than for goats, excepting when the criteria included PCV ≤ 18 and F © 3, F © 4 and F © 5 were considered positive. In contrast, the specificity was always lower in sheep for any criteria adopted. Other than in goats, using the ≤15 cut-off level for sheep, it is possible to opt not to drench the animals that were shown to be F © 3 because the sensitivity is still high, indicating that few animals that should have been drenched were overlooked. In goats, in contrast, the low sensitivity at all cut-off levels made it too risky to leave F © 3 animals undrenched. Even though the number of correct treatments for goats was always higher than that for sheep, the opposite was true for the kappa index for all the criteria tested. Therefore, the FAMACHA © system is suitable for the identification of anemic animals of both species. It is necessary that all small ruminants classified as FAMACHA © level 3 are also treated to increase the sensitivity of the method.

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“…Although a significant positive correlation between FAMACHA and FEC has been reported by different workers (Kaplan et al, 2004;Burke et al, 2007), however, when using this system to choose resilient lambs/sires, farmers should have awareness that susceptible lambs may be more vulnerable to GINs due to more pasture infectivity. By careful monitoring of farms, producers can apply the FAMACHA system to recognize not only resilient but also resistant lambs/sires (Burke and Miller, 2008).…”

Section: Tissue Eosinophilsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Markers/parameters for the evaluation of natural resistance status of small ruminants against gastrointestinal nematodes

Saddiqi¹,

Sarwar

Iqbal

et al. 2012

Animal

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The high prevalence of anthelmintic-resistant gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) throughout the world has led to the need for alternative worm control strategies. One of the possible substitutes to reduce the problems of drug resistance and residue is the evaluation/breeding of small ruminants for greater resistance to the GINs (organically produced), which in turn would be a helpful tool to predict the performance of an animal. At present, the existing diversity in the genetic potential to resist/tolerate GINs infection both within and between breeds has been validated. Successful selection of animals to define the genotype and identified resistance is related to the employed markers. A number of phenotypic traits such as faecal egg count (FEC), worm burden, serum antibodies, peripheral eosinophilia, packed cell volume, live weight, serum protein and albumin concentrations have been used for this purpose both in natural and artificial infections. Relatively resistant/tolerant animals have also been found to have mastocytosis, globule leucocytes, high levels of histamine and immunoglobulin (Ig) A and IgE concentrations. Of these traits, the principal and most practical measurement used to assess resistance status in animals undergoing similar parasite challenges is FEC. FEC has a positive/negative correlation with other biochemical, cellular and immunological parameters; however, the reliability of individual trial is often questioned and valuable information regarding the genetic makeup can be obtained from pooled data of a large number of trials and parameters. This paper covers all the aspects reported in the literature on various parameters considered to evaluate the resistance status of a range of small ruminant breeds.

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Accuracy of the FAMACHA system for on-farm use by sheep and goat producers in the southeastern United States

Cited by 123 publications

References 12 publications

Resistance to gastrointestinal parasite infection in Djallonké sheep

Resistance to gastrointestinal parasite infection in Djallonké sheep

Sensitivity and specificity of the FAMACHA© system in Suffolk sheep and crossbred Boer goats

Markers/parameters for the evaluation of natural resistance status of small ruminants against gastrointestinal nematodes

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