Research Article Morbidity Parameters Associated with Gastrointestinal Tract Nematodes in Sheep in Dabat District, Northwest Ethiopia Zewdu Seyoum , 1 Kalkidan Getnet, 1 Mersha Chanie, 1 Samuel Derso, 1 and Shumye Fentahun 2 1 College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of Gondar, P.O. Box 196, Gondar, Ethiopia 2 Bureau of Dabat District Livestock and Fishery Development, Dabat, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Zewdu Seyoum; zewdus@yahoo.com Received 22 July 2017; Accepted 18 December 2017; Published 18 February 2018 Academic Editor: Heather Simpson Copyright © 2018 Zewdu Seyoum et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections of sheep and their interaction with selected morbidity parameters were studied in smallholder farms. 120 faecal samples were collected and examined using faecal fotation to determine nematode infection in sheep. Tus, the study demonstrated overall prevalence of 57.5% GIN infections, while the mean faecal egg count (FEC) was 517.5 EPG. Te severity of GIN infection was determined based on EPG as a mild infection (EPG <500), 55.1%, moderate infection (EPG = 500–1500), 30.4%, and heavy infection (EPG >1500), 14.6%. Five genera of nematodes were identifed using coproculture: Haemonchus (33.3%), Trichostrongylus (26.7%), Bunostomum (20%), Oesophagostomum (13.3%), and Cooperia (6.7%). A signifcant diference was observed in the mean FEC among the FC ( < 0.001), FAMACHA© score ( < 0.01), and the BCS of the animals ( < 0.001). FEC was positively correlated with the FAMACHA© score (FS), while FC and BCS were negatively correlated. Tus, FAMACHA© chart can suggest well the severity of nematode infections and can serve as a suitable on-farm tool to identify nematode-infected sheep and gives a guide to identify sheep that need to be treated with an anthelmintic. 1. Introduction Ethiopia possesses one of the largest ruminant inventories, including more than 57 million heads of cattle and 58 million small ruminants [1, 2]. As compared to large ruminants, small ruminants have many advantages for smallholder farmers via fewer feed costs, quicker turnover, easy management, and appropriate size at slaughter [3, 4]. However, their produc- tivity is still low compared to the population due to poor nutrition, diseases, and poor genetic makeup of the indige- nous stock [1]. In small ruminants, gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) infections represent important challenges in the tropical and subtropical regions [5, 6]. Infections with GIN afect the welfare of the animals and cause huge economic losses in live- stock farming [7]. Te most common GINs that afect small ruminants are Haemonchus, Trichostrongylus, Ostertagia, Cooperia, Bunostomum, Oesophagostomum, Chabertia, and Nematodirus [8]. Tere are potential threats associated with economic losses through lowered productivity, reduced ani- mal performance and weight gain, retarded growth, a cost of treatment, and mortality [6, 9, 10]. GIN infections in ruminants (mainly in sheep) are of major importance in most African countries; however, their economic impact is greater in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia, due to the availability of suitable agroclimatic fac- tors for diversifed vertebrate hosts and nematode species [11]. In Ethiopia, fragmented studies indicated the importance of nematodes as a cause of decreased production in domestic ruminants [5, 11, 12]. Small ruminants in North Gondar zone have a paramount importance to the livelihood of people and sheep are the dominant species in the highland areas. However, diseases ofen prevent them from attaining optimum productivity [13]. Tus, diseases and parasitism resistance should be con- sidered as a criterion in a breeding selection, and the weak Hindawi BioMed Research International Volume 2018, Article ID 9247439, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/9247439