SHORT COMMUNICATION Studies on the Eimeria of Goats at Magadu Dairy Farm SUA, Morogoro, Tanzania E. N. Kimbita & R. S. Silayo & E. D. Mwega & A. T. Mtau & J. B. Mroso Accepted: 23 January 2009 / Published online: 31 January 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009 Keywords Eimeria . Goat . Oocyst . Trisulmycine . Amprolium Introduction Coccidiosis is an important cause of mortality in goat kids (Donkin and Boyazoglu 2004, Valentine et al. 2007). In outbreaks of coccidiosis, economic losses are due to reduced feeding efficiency and poor perfor- mance. Very few drugs have been tested for treatment of coccidiosis in goats. Decoquinate was shown to be safe and effective in the prevention and control of caprine coccidiosis (Morand–Fehr et al. 2002). The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy two commonly available drugs in order to maximize their utility in treatment of caprine coccidiosis. Materials and methods Faecal samples were collected from 81 goats. After concentration by salt floatation technique, oocysts were counted by using the modified McMaster technique (MAFF 1986). Six weaners (3–5 months), 11 growers (6– 12 months) and 31 adult goats (>12 months) were randomly allocated into three treatment groups A, B and C, each consisting of 16 animals. Group A was treated with trisulmycine (1 g/10 kg body weight). Group B was treated with amprolium (2 g/40 kg body weight). Group C did not receive any drug. The goats were treated for five days. Body weights were recorded before, during and after treatment. Faecal samples were collected and examined for oocysts before, during and after treatment. Results Prevalence and intensity of infection Some 64.2% (52/81) of the goats were positive for oocysts. The 48 experimental subjects were selected Trop Anim Health Prod (2009) 41:1263–1265 DOI 10.1007/s11250-009-9310-2 Kimbita, E. N., Silayo, R. S., Mwega, E. D., Mtau, A. T. and Mroso,. J. B. 2009. Studies on the Eimeria of goats at Magadu dairy farm SUA, Morogoro, Tanzania. Tropical Animal Health and Production. E. N. Kimbita (*) : R. S. Silayo : E. D. Mwega Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P. O. Box 3019, CHUO KIKUU, Morogoro, Tanzania e-mail: kimbita@suanet.ac.tz A. T. Mtau : J. B. Mroso Faculty of Science, Technology and Environmental Studies, Open University of Tanzania, P. O. Box 23409, Dar- Es- Salaam, Tanzania