Research Project 3: The effect of Trypanosoma evansi on working buffaloes in Indonesia (1992-5)

Purpose
Disease limits the working capacity of draught animals, and work can exacerbate disease.  The relationships between disease, work and nutrition are complex and not yet well understood.  In this project, relationships in swamp buffalo in Indonesia were investigated, as Trypanosoma evansi is an endemic parasite in the buffalo population in this country.

Activities
The work performance of swamp buffalo with and without T. evansi infections was measured and the effects of nutrition of the animals on the response were assessed.  The results showed that the effects of the disease on work output depended on the strain of T. evansi that was infecting the animals.  Effects of strain differences on infectivity and pathogenicity have been seen in the field.  Reductions in work output were seen only in animals with low PCVs and high body temperatures, supporting the suggestions of other scientists that work output may be reduced because the low PCV reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of blood and the high body temperature lessens the buffaloes' capacity to tolerate and lose the heat produced during work.  It may therefore not be the disease directly, but its side-effects, which are responsible for reductions in work input.  The variable responses of individual animals made it difficult to quantify or predict the likely response to an infection in terms of work output.  However, the studies showed that a reduction of at least 30% in performance could be expected.

Collaboration
The project, funded by the ODA (now DFID) and the Royal Society, London.  Scientists from CTVM and the Research Institute for Veterinary Science (RIVS) in Bogor (W. Java, Indonesia) collaborated in the project, which was located in Indonesia.

Outputs
As well as the articles and reports written by the main collaborators from the different institutions, Richard Clemence, the main investigator in the project, obtained his PhD at Edinburgh University for the work:

R.G. Clemence, 1997, Relationships between disease, work and nutrition in draught cattle and buffalo

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