Carolino, Renato Nuno PimentelMartins, Elisabete GomesRodrigues, Edgar Elói Vaz de Matos dos Santos2016-12-142016-12-142014-07-21201096722http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/16789The present study aimed to assess the economic impact of bovine eimeriosis associated to calves on farms with replacement and to characterize the effect of the farm management and the effectiveness of treatment with metaphylactic diclazuril in neonates. The direct economic impact was assessed weekly by treatment costs and time spent in treatment of calves and the indirect impact was assessed by measuring respiratory scores and consistency of faeces, quantification and identification of Eimeria, through the method of Benchtop, method of McMaster and measurement of live weight of calves at two months old. The farm and diclazuril (Vecoxan® ) effect was evaluated by measuring the following parameters: age at first and last positive analysis and maximum and mean values of oocysts per gram of feces (OPG) observed, maximum and mean values of respiratory score, mean of weeks with respiratory score equal or greater than four, maximum and mean values of fecal score, days, time spent and costs of treatment for diarrhea and total, death and live weight at two months old. These parameters were subjected to nonparametric analysis of variance (ANOVA). The effectiveness of diclazuril was assessed by fecal oocyst count reduction test (FOCRT). Twenty-three calves were selected by convenience to the control group (CG) or to the diclazuril group (DG) and monitored in parallel. The prevalences found in this study were 100 % for the genus Eimeria, 91 % for E. bovis, 87 % for E. alabamensis, 74 % for E. zuernii, 22 % for E. cylindrica, 17 % for E. subspherica and 9 % for E. ellipsoidalis. The farm factor had a significant influence on age at first positive test (p < 0.01) in the mean of respiratory score (p < 0.05), in the mean of weeks with respiratory score equal or greater than four (p < 0.05), in the total days in treatment (p < 0.01) and in the total time spent in treatment (p < 0.01). The maximum values of OPG's were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with live weight of calves at two months old. Mean values of respiratory score, maximum and mean values of OPG's were significantly (p < 0.05) influenced positively by diclazuril. The FOCRT revealed a 90,11 % reduction in the OPG's DG mean, when compared to the OPG's GC mean. Based on the results of this study, we can conclude that diclazuril is effective against the Eimeria genus and the farm was the factor with the greatest influence on Eimeria infection.porCalvesEimeriaEconomic impactFarm managementDiclazurilCoimbraPortugalmaster thesis201096722