Prevalence of Indigestible Foreign Bodies in Rumen and Reticulum of Cattle Slaughtered at Dire Dawa Municipal Abattoir, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted with the aim of identifying and assessing the prevalence of indigestible rumen and reticulum foreign body in cattle with respect to its risk factors from October 2017 to April 2018 at Dire Dawa Municipal Abattoir, Eastern Ethiopia. A total of 384 cattle were considered in this study by randomly selected. Before postmortem examination employed ante mortem examination performed for characterization of selected animal. Out of total 384 cattle examined 154(40.1%) were found positive for presence of indigestible foreign bodies in their rumen and reticulum. The prevalence of foreign bodies was significantly (χ2 = 25.817, p < 0.05) higher in female (54.4%) than male cattle (29.0%).  The prevalence of foreign bodies in relation to breed was higher in cross breed (56.2%) animals than that of local breed (38.6%). More of the foreign body collected was significantly higher (χ2 = 69.138, p< 0.05) in poor (71.2%) than medium (52.9) and good body condition score (18). The result evidenced (21.4% in young, 40.8% in adult and 70.3% in old) that age has also significant association (χ2 = 40.626, p< 0.05) within different age group of animals for foreign bodies. This study revealed a higher percentage of foreign bodies occurred in the rumen (78.0%) than in the reticulum (10.1%), with the remaining percent present in both rumen and reticulum. A Plastic (53.4%) was the most harbored foreign material from rumen while metallic material (35.3%) was more detected in reticulum. Results of this study showed that may be inappropriate disposal of solid waste garbage on the environments that have high risk for animal and environmental pollution. Therefore, responsible government like environmental activists, Policy makers, Livestock professionals, and community should give attentions to reduce further problem by educating the society on the risk of improper disposal of plastic and other materials.

Keywords: Cattle, Indigestible foreign bodies, Rumen, Reticulum, Prevalence, Dire Dawa, Abattoir.

DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/111-02

Publication date: November 30^th 2023