Studies on some internal parasites of pigeons

Pigeons are considered as one of the most important birds bred in Egypt. From the economic point of view it supply an important source of delicious animal protein. Parasitic diseases are important problems facing pigeon production. Enteric parasites as cestodes, nematodes as well as protozoa are the most common endoparasites causing serious troubles in pigeon breeding. The present study showed that out of 104 examined pigeons, 43(41.34%) were infected. The prevalence of cestodes & nematodes was 30.76%, 8.65% respectively. Concerning seasonal prevalence with both cestodes and nematodes the highest infection rate was observed during spring (57.1%) followed by autumn (43.8%), summer (40.0%) and winter (34.5%). Cestodes showed highest rate of infestation during spring (42.85%) while nematodes were in autumn (12.5%). Infestation rate was higher in female pigeons (54.5%) than males (44.18%) in both cestodes and nematodes. The detected cestodes were Raillietina echindoothridia, Houttuynia species and Paspalia macrocanthos. Ascaridia columbae was the only nematode isolated.The protozoon parasite Haemoproteus columbae infection rate was 45.97% with nearly similar prevalence in all seasons of the year.