author(s)
M Das, R Laha, G Khargharia and A Sen

abstract
To determine the prevalence of coccidia infections in pigs of subtropical hilly region of Meghalaya, a total of 2574 Fecal samples of pigs from different age groups <6 months (706 nos.), 6-12 months (896 nos.) and >12 months (972 nos.) were collected and screened by flotation techniques. Oocysts of Cryptosporidium spp. were examined by Sheather’s sucrose flotation, Malachite green staining (0.2%) and modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining techniques. The overall prevalence ofcoccidia infections in pigs of Meghalaya was 16.86%. Three different species of coccidia were observed, Eimeria spp. (11.50%), Isospora suis (2.45%)and Cryptosporidium spp. (2.91%). Age wise, 26.35%, 15.74%, and 11% infections were recorded in <6 months, 6-12 months and >12 months old pigs, respectively. Highest and lowest infections was recorded in the month of August (32.83%) and January (6.93%), respectively. Season wise infection was recorded highest during rainy season (21.95%) followed by cool (18.16%), hot (12.35%) and cold (10.07%) season. Six species of Eimeria were recorded viz. E. debliecki(42.23%), E. porci(13.85%), E. suis(27.36%), E. perminuta(12.5%), E. cerdonis (1.69%) and E. spinosa(2.36%). The oocyst count per gram of feces ranged from 502.87-1826.64 in infected pigs.