Study area and livelihood of the farmers: The study area was amalgamated high plain and low land at the periphery of Chittagong town, under Pahartali Thana. There are 9 different small administrative areas (known as wards) within the Pahartali Thana. Of those wards, 2 wards, 10-North Kattali and 12-Soripara, were selected based on the highest number of goat population and ease of communication. Like countryside poor farmers, periurban farmers mostly depend on traditional livestock farming. A traditional household farm consists of 1 or 2 cattle or goats and a few poultry birds. In addition, their livelihoods depend on small business, jobs, and daily wage earning. Rural farmers rear goats in a semiscavenging system with the aim of having kids and meat as a source of subsistent family income. Semiscavenging goats are those goats that usually feed on the grasses of barren and roadside land and the leaves of jackfruits with a minimum irregular supplementation of concentrated cereal feed (wheat bran, rice polish, boiled rice, soya bean meal, pea bran, etc.).
Selection and preparation of the study population: A total of 30 household farms, having 317 goats, were selected randomly from a complete list of the farms (N = 50, n = 500 goats) in the 2 study areas. Each farm consisted of at least 5 goats, with an individual age of at least 5 months, included in the sampling frame. All 317 of the goats belonging to those 30 household farms were brought under parasitic screening. Five grams of feces per goat was taken aseptically from the rectum. The direct smear methods described previously, followed by the modified McMaster counting technique described earlier, were used to screen endoparasites in this study. The direct physical inspection of each 10.16-cm2 region of neck and loin per goat was performed to screen ectoparasites in this study. This technique was previously applied. The goats affected by gastrointestinal parasites (regardless of types, at least 100 eggs per gram (EPG)) and ectoparasites (at least 10 eggs per count (EPC) for ticks and at least 50 EPC for lice) were considered for the selective drug trial. A total of 174 goats (n = 317) were therefore used for the field anthelmintic trial for 28 days. The farmers’ consent was taken before the start of the study. The farmers also received advisory services for their goats, vitamin B complex supplementation after the end of the trial, and a monetary incentive (15 Bangladeshi taka per blood sample) for their active participation in the study. All of the studied goats were randomly divided into 3 groups using a random number table; each consisted of 58 goats. The sample size for each group was statistically sufficient. Specific treatment groups were selected by tossing a coin. Participatory farmers were blinded to the types of treatment given to their goats. The groups were designated as T1, T2, and T3. Fecal samples (for endoparasites) and neck and loin regions (for ectoparasites) of the goats were examined as per the protocol referred to earlier in order to assess parasitic load on day 0 (before the start of the trial) and days 7, 14, 21, and 28 (during the trial). Body weight (BW) and blood samples were taken from each goat following the same schedule mentioned above for endo- and ectoparasite assessment. A portable automatic balance (Model-CAP, 130 kg; GRAD.0-100, 100-130 kg; MISAKI, Japan) was used to measure BW. Approximately 5 mL of blood per goat was drawn from the jugular vein each time. A portion of the blood from each sample was used to evaluate routine hematological indices such as total erythrocyte count (TEC), hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), basophil count, and eosinophil count. Serum samples were then separated by centrifugation at 1500 rpm for 10 min. These samples were evaluated for biochemical parameters such as TSP, calcium (Ca), SGOT, and SGPT. Data entry and statistical evaluation Th e data obtained were imported, sorted, and coded accordingly using Microsoft Excel 2000. Th e data were then exported into STATA™ 9.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA) for analysis. A descriptive statistical analysis was carried out for the results of endo- and ectoparasitic loads. The results were expressed as the mean EPG and EPC along with the percentage mean reduction and percentage mean increment of parasitic load during different time points of the anthelmintic trial. The efficacy of the drugs in terms of reduction of parasitic egg load between the treatment groups at different time points was tested for signifi cance using a t-test for equal sample size assuming normal approximation. The effects of the anthelmintic trial on BW and hematobiochemical indices of the goats within each treatment group at different time points, and also between the treatment groups for each individual time point, for significance by analysis of variance assuming homogeneous variance of means were examined using a post-hoc test. The results were expressed as mean, 95% confidence interval, and P-value.