Abstract:
Background and Objective: Most poultry farmers and veterinarians focus on coccidiosis, which is a common disease in poultry of all ages. Necrotic enteritis (NE) and coccidiosis have almost the same clinical presentation and therefore, birds may be treated for coccidiosis when they are actually infected with NE. This study investigated the occurrence of NE in local chickens slaughtered at Muda lawal market in Bauchi metropolis. Materials and Methods: A total of one thousand (1000) whole intestines were randomly collected from different slaughter stands in the slaughterhouse at the Bauchi poultry market. Two separate samples of the intestinal content were obtained from each whole intestine and examined for the presence of Clostridium perfringens and Eimeria which are the aetiologic agents for NE and coccidiosis, respectively. Results: An overall occurrence of 55.7% was obtained for NE. The study revealed a significant association between the occurrence of the disease and the season, with the early rainy season having the highest occurrence (64.6). However, there were no significant differences in occurrence among different genotypes and sexes of local chickens. More than half of the birds (58.5%) had the unapparent form of the infection, while 30.5 and 11.0% had the moderate and severe forms, respectively. The results also showed that severity of NE was significantly (p<0.05) influenced by season, with the late rainy season recording the highest percentage of the most severe form (14.6). The McNemar test for significance of changes showed a significant (p<0.001) deviation from the speculation that coccidiosis is the major predisposing factor to NE. Conclusion: The results indicate that NE occurs in local chickens.