Seroprevalence of brucellosis in ovines of Ganderbal district of Kashmir Valley

Abstract

The present study was carried out on ovines of four administrative blocks of Ganderbal i.e., Lar, Ganderbal, Wakura and Kangan from May 2016 to July 2017. A multi-stage simple random sampling technique was used to determine sample size. The total sample size as calculated turned out to be 223 sheep. Samples of blood in clot activator tubes were collected and serum was harvested. The Microagglutination test (MAT) was performed in 96-well U-shaped microplates. The overall prevalence of ovine brucellosis was 35.87%. Prevalence was non-significantly higher in females (37.82%) having 1.99 times greater odds than males (23.33%). Age-wise prevalence was significantly higher in sheep >2 years of age. The sheep aged >2 years had 2.35 times greater odds (80.6/34.21) of having a higher prevalence of brucellosis than sheep aged < 2 years. The results of this study suggest a high prevalence of ovine brucellosis in this region, whose economic effect has not been investigated till date.