OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SARCOCYSTIS PARASITE ISOLATED FROM SHEEP IN YAZD PROVINCE, IRAN
Introduction: Sarcocystis species are one of the most important meat borne parasites. Sarcocystosis causes several symptoms in human as well as numerous diseases with a high economic impact on livestock. In the current paper at first the results of a pilot study for determination of disease agent in the lambs of Yazd province in central Iran is presented. Then the status of parasite in red meat products in the study region is discussed. Materials and Methods: Muscles of 70 slaughtered sheep from both sexes and different ages were investigated for presence of parasite cysts from September to October 2013. Carcass inspection with naked eye at industrial slaughterhouses of Yazd for macroscopic cysts, and pepsin-digestion method for microscopic cysts was performed on common infected sites
A survey on the Frequency of Sarcocystis in Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2019 - 2020
Background: The zoonotic Sarcocystis parasite has an obligatory two-host life cycle that mainly involves herbivorous animals as intermediate hosts and carnivorous animals as definitive hosts. Objectives: Lack of reliable study and published data bout frequency of Sarcocystis in livestock of Hormozgan Province and consumed meat led us to investigate in abattoirs and slaughterhouses of Bandar Abbas, Iran, in 2019 - 2020. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 400 meat samples of three types of animals (cow, sheep, goat) belonging to Hormozgan, Fars, and Kerman provinces were studied from September 2019 to January 2020 using naked eye examination for detection of macroscopic Sarcocystis cysts and pepsin digestion method accompanied by squeezing methods performed to examine striated muscles for microscopic cyst types. Isolated tissues of the esophagus, heart, and diaphragm of 400 slaughtered animals were examined for Sarcocystis. Results: The carcasses of all the animals were investigated to detect Sarcocystis macroscopic cysts, all of which were negative. However, microscopic examination of isolated tissues by pepsin digestion showed a total frequency of 92.25% in these animals. Analysis revealed that cows bred in Hormozgan and goats imported from Kerman are significantly infected and play an important role in the distribution of disease (P < 0.05). Conclusions: These results and obtained data indicated that a large volume of imported meats to Hormozgan is contaminated with this parasite, and more control should be applied over slaughtered livestock. Also, the people of the community who consume these meats should be given proper and complete training.
Estimating Crop Growth Rate with Land Treatment
A new and more comprehensive procedure for estimating crop growth rate is illustrated with data from the literature for coastal bermudagrass. Yield data are described by the Gaussian probability function. The effect of irrigation and harvest frequency is shown. A plot of relative yield for each combination of irrigation and harvest frequency on probability paper shows that all the data follows a single line. By assuming and average composition, it is possible to estimate weekly nutrient uptake.