Prevalence, Intensity and Risks Involved in Helminth Infections in Domestic Mountain Pony and Balkan Donkey in Nature Park Stara Planina, Serbia

Background: this study aimed to investigate the prevalence, intensity and risk factors (age and gender) promoting the intestinal helminthic infections of the do-mestic mountain ponies and balkan donkeys in serbia. methods: prevalence, intensity and risk factors influencing helminth infection in horses (n=39) and donkeys (n=18) at the site of nature park stara planina, were studied from may to sep 2015. the presence of one or several gastrointestinal hel-minth species was confirmed by faecal flotation in 97.43% of horses and 88.88% of donkeys included in the monitoring. the identified helminth species were tricho-strongylus axei, strongylus edentatus, s. vulgaris, parascaris equorum, dictyocaulus arnfieldi and anoplocephala magna in 84.61%, 46.15%, 5.13%, 58.97%, 94.87% and 38.46% of horses, respectively. the significant association of infection with p. equorum and sex of horses was established. (χ2=13.33, p<0.01). results: the prevalence of parasitic helminths identified in donkeys was the fol-lowing: d. arnfieldi, t. axei, pa. equorum, s. vulgaris, a. margna and strongyloides westeri in 55.55%, 38.89%, 27.78%, 22.22% and 22.22% of donkeys, respectively. moreo-ver, the mean faecal egg count was higher in donkeys (369.9 epg - egg per gram) than in horses (250.2 epg). the association between the age and the mean epg was significant (p<0.05) in both equine species. conclusion: the results of the investigation provided basic information that can be helpful for planning strategic control of nematode infection in equine popula-tion in nature reserves in serbia.