Impact of energy and protein on the gastro-intestinal parasitism of small ruminants: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis was performed to quantify the effect of the energy and protein intakes of growing sheep and goats infected with gastrointestinal parasites on some animal responses. In total, 101 publications representing 466 dietary and parasitic treatments were retained. For each 1 unit increase in log-transformed FEC, dry matter intake and organic matter digestibility decreased by 8.68 g/kg LW0.75 and 1.21%, respectively for sheep and goats. For the same range of increase in log-transformed FEC, the PCV decreased by 62.8% and 23.4% for sheep and goats, respectively. For each 1 unit increase in log-transformed FEC, ADG decreased by 1.31 and 4.51 g/kg LW0.75 for sheep and goats, respectively. This meta-analysis found a positive impact of better nutrition on resilience and resistance, but with uncertainties regarding the specific contributions of energy and protein.