Fecal ciliate composition of domestic horses (Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758) living in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Species composition and distribution of intestinal ciliates were investigated in the feces from 15 domestic horses living in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Twenty-three species belonging to 14 genera were identified. This is the first study on intestinal cil-iates in domestic horses living in Kyrgyzstan. The mean number of ciliates was 14.1 ± 6.8 ×104 cells ml-1 of feces and the mean number of ciliate species per host was 6.0 ± 3.2. No endemic or new species were detected. Blepharocorys was the major genus as these ciliates were detected in high proportions. In contrast Holophryoides, Allantosoma were only ob-served at low frequencies. Recorded ciliate species in this investigation had almost the same characteristics as those de-scribed in previous studies. There was no important geographic variation in the intestinal ciliate fauna of equids.