PREVALENCE OF CALF DISEASES AT SOME SELECTED AREAS IN DINAJPUR DISTRICT OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Among all animals present on a dairy farm, the higher morbidity and mortality rates generally occurs in baby calves. A one year (from April, 2017 to March, 2018) cross sectional study was conducted to know the present scenario of prevalence and risk factors of calf diseases in Dinajpur District. A total number of 2805 clinical cases were recorded and analyzed during all the study period from three different Veterinary hospitals of three upazillas namely Dinajpur Sadar upazilla (n=1320), Birol upazilla (n=833) and Birgong upazilla (n=652). The diagnoses of diseases were made based on epidemiological data, physical, clinical, microscopic examination and other laboratory techniques of affected animals. Influence of various risk factors such as breed (Local and Cross), age (≤ 4 weeks and >4 weeks), sex (Male and Female) and season (summer, rainy and winter) on the occurrence of calf disease was also studied. The overall prevalence of diseases in all three upazilas were diarrhoea (21.82%), anorexia (10.52%), fever (8.73%), naval ill (7.80%), malnutrition (8.20%), indigestion (5.35%), traumatic injury (3.92%), dysentery (3.92%), myiasis (4.10%), pneumonia (4.10%), alopecia (2.96%), atresia ani (3.06%), hernia (2.21%), constipation (3.28%), abscess (1.89%), conjunctivitis (1.60%), lameness (2.28%), FMD (.8%) ,blot (0.5%) and pica (2.88%). The cases of diarrhoea was higher (21.82%) than that of other diseases. The occurrence of diseases was highly significant (p<0.01) in crossbred calves (58.50%) than that of local breed (41.49%). Cases of diseases were higher in male calves (53.37%) than that of female calves (46.63%) but the variation was insignificant (p>0.05). The diseases were found significantly (p<0.05) higher in ≤ 4 weeks (56.58%) group. The occurrence of diseases in calves was significantly (p<0.05) higher in rainy season (43.12%) and lowest in winter season (24.50%) The data on the influence of breed, age and season on the disease occurrence in calves could provide valuable baseline information for effective disease control and prevention strategies.