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Asian Journal of Poultry Science

Year: 2012 | Volume: 6 | Issue: 3 | Page No.: 79-88
Research Article

Prevalence of Coccidia Infection and Preponderance Eimeria Species in Free Range Indigenous and Intensively Managed Exotic Chickens during Hot-wet Season, in Zaria, Nigeria

I.D. Jatau
Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
N.H. Sulaiman
Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
I.W. Musa
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
A.I. Lawal
Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
O.O. Okubanjo
Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
I. Isah
Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Y. Magaji
Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
This study is aimed to report the prevalence of coccidia infection and preponderance Eimeria species of free range indigenous and intensively managed exotic chickens in Zaria, Nigeria. Seventy whole intestines each from slaughtered market age broilers, layers and indigenous chickens were collected from live bird market in Zaria from March through July, 2011. Contents of each intestinal tract were examined microscopically in the laboratory for the presence of coccidia oocysts using simple floatation technique and graded based on number of oocysts per field as, in apparent infection, low grade infection, severe infection for oocysts counts of 1-10, 11-20 and >20 per field, respectively. To identify the likely Eimeria species contained in each sample, oocysts shape index of twenty randomly selected oocysts were determined by measuring their lengths and widths using a calibrated ocular micrometer at 400x magnification. The 33.3% of all the collected samples had coccidia infection, with specific prevalence rates of 44.3% in layers, 37.1% in broilers and 18.6% in indigenous chickens. The 80.7% of the infected layers had unapparent coccidia infection, while 12.9 and 6.5% had low and severe grades infections, respectively. Similarly, 69.2% of the infected broilers were unapparently infected while 26.9 and 3.9% were moderately and severely infected with coccidia, respectively. More so, 84.6% of the infected indigenous chickens had in apparent infection, while only 7.69% each had low grade and severe infections. All the seven Eimeria species of chickens were identified with overall prevalences of: E. maxima (58.6%), E. acervulina (47.1%), E. mitis (30.0%), E. brunetti (28.6%), E. tenella (22.9%) and E. praecox (8.6%). Mixed Eimeria species infections were common among the sampled chickens with overall prevalence 61.4%.
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I.D. Jatau, N.H. Sulaiman, I.W. Musa, A.I. Lawal, O.O. Okubanjo, I. Isah and Y. Magaji, 2012. Prevalence of Coccidia Infection and Preponderance Eimeria Species in Free Range Indigenous and Intensively Managed Exotic Chickens during Hot-wet Season, in Zaria, Nigeria. Asian Journal of Poultry Science, 6: 79-88.

DOI: 10.3923/ajpsaj.2012.79.88

URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ajpsaj.2012.79.88

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