title: Survey of coccidial infection of rabbits in Sichuan Province, Southwest China.
abstract: Coccidiosis is a challenging disease of wild and domestic rabbits both, caused by Eimeria and thereby leads enormous economic losses at rabbit farms. The present study carried out to survey the prevalence and intensity of coccidial infection among the rabbits in Sichuan Province, southwest China. A total of 110 faecal samples were collected from 11 farms situated in eight main rabbits rearing administrative regions. Oocysts in faecal samples were purified, sporulated and identified according to morphological features. The overall prevalence of infection was 56.4 % (62/110), with prevalence of 64 % (47/75) for local meat breeds of rabbit and 51.4 % (18/35) for Rex Rabbits (local fur rabbits). Weanling rabbits had the highest prevalence (74 %, 37/50), followed by young rabbits (45 %, 13/29) and the adult rabbits showed the lowest prevalence (42 %, 13/31). Concurrent infection with two to seven Eimeria species was found. In total, 9 species of Eimeria were identified from oocyst-positive samples. E. perforans was the most prevalent specie (42.73 %), followed in order by Eimiera media, E. irresidua, E. magna, and E. intestinalis with prevalences of 35.45, 34.55, 31.82, and 23.64 %, respectively. Results of the present investigation indicated that the prevalence of coccidial infection is high among the rabbit population in southwest China. This study also elucidate about the coccidial infection and emphasis to adopt control strategies in commercial rabbitories.
authors.affiliation: Engineering Laboratory of Animal Pharmaceuticals, College of Animal Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002 Fujian Province China ; National Animal Protozoa Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193 China.
authors.forename: Guangwen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002 Fujian Province China.
authors.forename: Mohsan Ullah
authors.initials: MU
authors.lastname: Goraya
authors.affiliation: Engineering Laboratory of Animal Pharmaceuticals, College of Animal Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002 Fujian Province China.
authors.forename: Juhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: National Animal Protozoa Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193 China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Suo
authors.affiliation: Engineering Laboratory of Animal Pharmaceuticals, College of Animal Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002 Fujian Province China.
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: National Animal Protozoa Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193 China.
authors.forename: Xianyong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: Coccidial infection; Eimeria; Rabbits; Southwest China