author(s)
MM Shah, I Maqbool, A Manzoor, N Shabnum, T Rather and SA Ahanger

abstract
The survey was conducted to find out the prevalence of gastrointestinal (GI) parasites in different seasons in sheep of Kashmir valley. A total of 5361 faecal samples subjected to standard floatation technique revealed an overall prevalence of 46.70% for different gastrointestinal parasites. Highest prevalence was observed for strongyles (34.94%) followed by Eimeria spp. (7.59%), Moniezia spp. (3.49%) and Strongyloides spp (0.69%). Among strongyle parasites recovered, the prevalence of Nematodirus spp. was reported to be 1.00%. Overall seasonal variation revealed highest prevalence of GI parasites in summer (55.39%) followed by autumn (52.52%), winter (44.66%) and spring (36.44%), the difference being stastically significant (P<0.05) between spring and winter, spring and summer and spring and autumn. Moniezia spp. was found significantly (P<0.05) highest in winter with a prevalence of 5.50 percent. Significantly (P<0.05) highest prevalence of strongyle worms was found in autumn (47.16%) followed by summer (33.8%), winter (32.70%) and spring (27.33%) season. Nematodirus and Strongyloides spp. were found significantly (P<0.05) highest in summer (1.90%) and autumn (1.04%) seasons, respectively. Eimeria spp. revealed highest prevalence in summer (19.7%) followed by winter (6.00%) spring (3.94%) and autumn season (2.40%), the difference being stastically significant (P<0.05) between spring and summer, autumn and winter, spring and winter and summer and winter.