Performance, endoparasitary control and blood values of ewes locally adapted in semiarid region

This study evaluated the variation in the prevalence of endoparasitoses and their impact on body condition and blood values of sheep of the Morada Nova breed. A total of 138 ewes were examined for their morphology (body weight, BW; body condition score, BCS), parasitology (faecal egg count, FEC; Famacha© score; coproculture), hematology (red blood cell count,RBC); hemoglobin concentration, HE; packet cell volume, PCV; mean corpuscular volume, MCV,; mean corpuscular hemoglobin, MCH; mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, MCHC; leukocytes, WBC) and serum biochemistry (glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, urea, creatinine, total protein, albumin, globulin, AST and ALT). Overall the animals presented higher BW and BCS in the months of September and December, however, with high FEC, in addition to a large number of animals with Famacha score 4 and 5. The results showed that the main hematophagous worm affecting the sheep, the genus Haemonchus ssp, appeared in a greater proportion (30-71.66%) than the other worms in all months of the study, except in March. About 30% of the hematological values found in the study are outside the reference ranges for suable sheep e 45.50% for serum biochemistry. These findings demonstrate the most healthy period of the year was from March to June for endoparasites control, however, in the months of September and December the animals showed better performance measures.