Intestinal and hepatic coccidiosis among rabbits in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Background and Aim: The attention to rabbit meat production in Indonesia is comparatively less to other farm animals such as cattle and poultry industries. However, future prospect of rabbit to be seriously industrialized seemed quite promising due to rabbit is highly productive and has short reproduction cycle as well as generation interval. One of the diseases infecting many rabbits is coccidiosis caused by protozoan parasite, Eimeria spp. The infectious stage of Eimeria spp. presents ubiquitously in the environment and increases the risk of parasite transmission. Preventive methods such as vaccination are not yet fully developed, while sporadic treatment is not efficiently reduce the cases. In this study, Eimeria spp. infecting rabbits in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia, were investigated with the aim for precise diagnosis to determine targeted treatment and as a baseline epidemiological data from rabbit in Indonesia. Materials and Methods: Sample collection was performed randomly for 3 months, from March 2017 to May 2017 and covered areas in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. A total of 750 samples were collected. Eimeria species identification was determined morphologically from the samples after sporulation in 2.5% potassium dichromate by COCCIMORPH. Results: Ten species of Eimeria spp. were identified in this study from the positive samples (527/750; 70.3%). Eimeria flavescens was present in 80% of the positive samples, Eimeria coeciola in 78%, Eimeria perforans in 61%, Eimeria exigua in 37%, Eimeria media in 33%, Eimeria stiedae in 31%, Eimeria irresidua in 12%, Eimeria magna in 11%, Eimeria intestinalis in 10%, and Eimeria piriformis in 10%. Coinfection as noted in 80% of the positive samples with 2-6 species in a specimen. E. flavescens and E. coeciola were the most prevalent among all Eimeria spp. (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Eimeria spp. is detected in high prevalence among rabbit in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with commonly occurs in mixed infections. In this paper, we describe Eimeria spp. that are circulating in Indonesia and present it as updated information to farmers and veterinarians. To the best of our knowledge, we provided the first information about rabbit coccidiosis in Indonesia. Keywords: coccidiosis, Indonesia, rabbit.

The Pathogenic Effect of Eimeria on Rabbits of the Soviet Chinchilla Breed and its Hybrids with the Californian Breed

“…About 180 million rabbits raised in Europe. Rabbit meat is the sixth most consumed meat after broilers, laying hens, trout, salmon, and pigs (Hamid et al, 2019).…”

“…According to many researchers, eimeria are always present on rabbit farms, are ubiquitous in the environment,and are practically indestructible (Hamid et al, 2019). The high viability of oocysts, as well as their ability to survive after contact with disinfectants in concentrations and exposures that destroy pathogenic microorganisms, is a severe problem in the fight against invasive animal diseases (Shkromada et al, 2019).…”

“…T he domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus L.) is a small animal belonging to the order Lagomorphs. Based on structural features of the digestive system, it is classified as a pseudo-ruminant capable using a large amount of roughage, having a sufficiently developed cecum, as part of large intestines, for efficient microbial digestion (Ayan et al, 2020;Hamid et al, 2019).…”

“…Also, rabbits are easy to transport and do not require a large amount of feed and the rebuilding of large livestock complexes. They provide meat products, fur, and leather (Hamid et al, 2019).…”

“…That is why global production and consumption of rabbit products is are inevitably increasing from 1.22 million tons in 2010 to almost 1.43 million tons in 2016 (Hamid et al, 2019;Petrova, 2019).…”