Intestinal ciliate composition found in the feces of the Turk rahvan horse Equus caballus, Linnaeus 1758.

The study investigates the composition and distribution of large intestinal ciliates in 15 Turk rahvan horses living near Izmir, Turkey. It was found that the ciliates present in the feces of these horses were consistent with previously reported species, marking no significant geographical variation in equid intestinal ciliate fauna.

Study Overview

In the experiment,

• A total of 15 Turk rahvan horses living in the Izmir, Turkey were studied to understand the composition and distribution of large intestinal ciliates in their feces.
• Twenty-two ciliate genera involving 36 species all previously known, were identified with no new species discovered,
• Numerical readings disclosed an average of 14.2±13.9×10(4) ciliate cells per ml of feces and an average of 9.9±7.1 ciliate species per host.
• Interestingly, two of the horses did not seem to have any ciliates in their feces.

Main Findings

The major findings involved observations around dominant and minorly present ciliate genera.

• Genera Bundleia and Blepharocorys were singled out as major contributors, due to their constant presence in large numbers.
• On the other hand, genera Paraisotricha, Didesmis, and Gassovskiella were only observed infrequently.

Comparison with Previous Research

When results were aligned with prior findings, the ciliate composition identified in this study exhibited strong resemblance to those previously documented,

• It was thus inferred that there is no significant geographic variation in the intestinal ciliate fauna of equids, concluding the intestinal ciliate compositions in horses to be rather stable across geographical locations.