Prevalence of rumen and reticulun foreign bodies among cattle slaughtered in Masaka Municipal Abattoir.

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2018 to June, 2018 at Masaka Municipal Abattoir with the objectives of assessing the prevalence of foreign bodies in rumen and reticulum, identifying types of foreign bodies and relationship between sex, age, and breed with prevalence of foreign materials. Both antemortem and postmortem examinations were employed to examine, the live animal and for the recovery of foreign bodies from rumen and reticulum after slaughter respectively. Out of 320 cattle examined for the presence of indigestible foreign, bodies 46(14.4%) animals were found positive for indigestible foreign bodies in their rumen or reticulum. Statistically insignificant difference (P> 0.05) in the prevalence of indigestible foreign material was observed between cross breed (26.6%) and local breed (13.7%). A significantly (p<0.05) high proportion of animals >5years (24.4%} had indigestible foreign bodies compared to animals <5years (7.7%). Besides, significantly (P < 0.05) higher prevalence was observed between females (23.1%) and males (1O.9%) As well as significantly higher prevalence was reported in Rumen (91.3%) than Reticulum (8:7%). The common types of foreign bodies detected were plastics 21(45.7%), fruit seeds 9 (19.6%) clothes, (15.2%), Nails 3(6.5%), Ropes 2 (43%), Wires 1 (2.2%) and stones (4%). In conclusion, this' study revealed ingestion of different types. find digestible foreign bodies by cattle in the study area which may -significantly cause poor production and mortality in affected animals. The study also, shows that plastics are the-biggest culprits. Therefore, awareness for animal owners should be, implemented to avoid the risk of foreign body ingestion by their animals and appropriate waste disposal practice should be implemented to reduce environmental pollution thereby. enhancing livestock production and productivity.