Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
In animal production significant losses occur due to parasitism (Coop et al. 1985). The classic means of treating animals against parasites is with anthelminthic drugs. However, the recent years resistance to anthelminthic drugs has become a major problem in many countries. Novel ways of overcoming the problem of nematode parasites have been proposed. One of them is breeding for resistance to parasites (Bishop and Stear, 1999). The aim of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters needed to devise strategies to breed against nematode parasites. Faecal egg counts (FECs) are used as the indicator trait of resistance to parasites.