Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY
Volume 64, Issue 10, Pages 1731-1742Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00484-020-01952-7
Keywords
Animals; Climate change; Ecology; Ectoparasitism; Epidemiology; Pollution; Season-wise
Funding
- SEED (Science for Equity Empowerment and Development) division, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India under DST-SARTHI (Department of Science and TechnologySustainable Agriculture Rural Transformation [SEED/SARTHI/HP/19/2012]
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Ectoparasitism has a damaging impact on the economy of goat production in India, but the factors influencing its distribution and dynamics are less explored. The present study was designed to investigate the influence of environmental factors like weather and air quality parameters on the occurrence of different types of ectoparasites in goats of two agro-climatic regions of India, viz. the Upper Gangetic Plain (UGP) and the Western Himalayas (WH). The prevalence survey for ectoparasitism among goats was conducted during the four distinct climatic seasons (winter, summer, monsoon, autumn) in both regions. The season-wise data of weather parameters (maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity in morning and evening, sunrise and sunset time, mean daily temperature and relative humidity, daily variation in temperature and relative humidity, and day length) and air quality parameters (air quality index (AQI), particulate matter 2.5 mu m (PM2.5), particulate matter 10 mu m (PM10)) of both regions were analyzed in relation with the ectoparasitic prevalence pattern of corresponding regions. The results depict a noticeable correlation between the studied parameters and seasonal variation in the occurrence of each type of ectoparasites. This outcome on the interaction of studied parameters and ectoparasitism is intriguing and it opens a huge scope for future studies on the biometeorological aspects of host-parasite ecological interplay and evolutionary biology. The better understanding of climatological aspects of ectoparasite occurrences helps goat farmers in formulating appropriate timely intervention strategies for the economic control of ectoparasites, which in turn tackles ectoparasiticidal drug resistance and reduces threat of vector-borne diseases.
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