Abstract:
Maruthankerny veterinary range covers a long stretch in Jaffna District of Sri Lanka extending from
Point-pedro to Chundikulam forest reserve. Animal husbandry in the area is dominated by local breeds
of goats and cattle that are kept under extensive management system. Disease is one of the major
constraints to this production system, especially parasitic and infectious diseases, which show seasonal
occurrence. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine common diseases of goats in
Maruthankerny veterinary range, and to find out whether the prevalence of these diseases show a
pattern associated with the rainfall in the region. The case records maintained at the Maruthankerney
Government Veterinary Office for the last five-year period (2014-2018) were considered for this study.
Monthly rainfall records for the study period were obtained from the Department of Meteorology, Sri
Lanka. Descriptive data analysis was conducted to understand the prevalence of the diseases, and the
correlation analysis was performed to explore the association between monthly rainfall and the
different diseases reported during the study period. The order of the reported diseases from the most
frequent to the least frequent is cerebrospinal nematodiasis (CSN), bite injuries (animal bites),
contagious pustular dermatitis (CPD), parasitic diseases, respiratory diseases, diarrhea, tetanus and
rabies. CSN, CPD, parasitic diseases and diarrhea had significantly (p ≤ 0.01) positive association with
monthly rainfall, indicating an increasing trend of these diseases during the rainy season. Respiratory
diseases and tetanus had significantly (p ≤ 0.01) negative association with monthly rainfall where the
abundance of the diseases substantially increased during the dry season. These findings would be
helpful to develop and implement a season-specific disease management strategy for goat production
system in this region.
