Survey on indigestible foreign bodies in the rumen and reticulum of cattle slaughtered at Nekemte municipal abattoir, Nekemte, Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was conducted on cattle slaughtered at Nekemte Municipal Abattoir, Nekemte, East Wollega, Ethiopia from November 2015 to April 2016. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence and to identify the type of indigestible foreign bodies in the rumen and reticulum of slaughtered cattle in association with the hypothetical risk factors. Each compartments of stomach was opened carefully and thorough visual inspection was made for the presence of indigestible foreign bodies. Of the 384 randomly selected cattle, overall foreign body detection was recorded in rumen and reticulum of 67(17.5%) the cattle examined. There was a higher prevalence of rumen and reticulum foreign bodies in female (25.4%) than in male cattle (15.4%) (χ2=3.99, p < 0.05). From the three age groups examined, the prevalence was higher (23.4%) in animals in the old age group than the younger (20.4%) and adult groups (12%) (χ2= 7.9096; p<0.05). Foreign bodies collected were of different types including plastic (31.34%), clothes (21.4%), calcified bodies (4.5%) and wires (4.5%). Foreign bodies weighing ≥300 grams were recorded in greater percentage 21(21.8%) in animals with poor body condition than those with medium 17(8.3%) and good 6(7%) body condition. This study revealed ingestion of different types of indigestible foreign bodies by cattle in the study area posing serious health problem for free grazing cattle. Hence, designing and implementation of appropriate solid waste disposal and management practice is strongly recommended to reduce the risk of ingestion of indigestible foreign bodies by cattle.