Prevalence of coccidiosis in broiler chickens in District Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan

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2016; 3(3): 41-45 The Journal of Zoology Studies ISSN 2348-5914 JOZS 2016; 3(3): 41-45 JOZS 2016 Received: 23-05-2016 Accepted: 01-07-2016 Muhammad Jamil Muhammad Mansoor Muhammad Kasib Khan

1 2016; 3(3): The Journal of Zoology Studies ISSN JOZS 2016; 3(3): JOZS 2016 Received: Accepted: Muhammad Jamil Muhammad Mansoor Muhammad Kasib Khan Department of Parasitology, Faisalabad-38040, Amanullah Arsalan Khan Department of CMS, Faisalabad Rizwan ul Haq Department of Parasitology, Faisalabad-38040, Fawad Anwar Corresponding Author: Muhammad Jamil Prevalence of coccidiosis in broiler chickens in District Dera Ismail Khan, Authors: Muhammad Jamil, Muhammad Mansoor, Muhammad Kasib Khan, Amanullah, Arsalan Khan, Rizwan ul Haq & Fawad Anwar Abstract Coccidiosis is a protozoal, highly infectious, fatal and the most prevalent poultry disease, which is caused by species of Eimeria. It results in massive destruction of intestinal epithelium leading to bloody diarrhea, poor weight gain, low FCR and high mortality. The present research is designed to identify the prevalence of coccidiosis in broiler chickens in district Dera Ismail Khan,. The study was conducted from November 2015 to April 2016 and 300 gut were examined and overall prevalence found was 44%. One hundred fecal from different broiler farms were also investigated during the same period. The prevalence of coccidiosis infection among adult broiler chickens was 41.51% and among young broiler chickens was 65.96%. Four species of Eimeria; E. tenella (24.24%), E. maxima (31.06%), E. mitis (31.82%) and E. necatrix (12.88%) were observed. The prevalence of Eimeria infections was highest in the month of April (71.83%) while lowest during December (25.71%). The prevalence of coccidiosis was higher at the farms where the management practices (sanitation and medication) were not satisfactory particularly litter moisture. A strong correlation was found between the prevalence of coccidiosis and age of the chickens. The differences were attributed to the managerial and environmental conditions especially due to climate change. Keywords: Poultry, Coccidiosis, Prevalence, Eimeria, FCR 1. Introduction Poultry, the domesticated species of birds including chicken, geese, duck and guinea fowl are reared for meat and egg purpose. Poultry industry is a flourishing domain of livestock which contributes 2% in national GDP of. It is playing main role in the stability of mutton and beef prices. Commercial poultry in was started in 1963 (Mohsin et al., 2008) [18]. Commercial poultry farming is one of the most flourishing industries in the world and it provides the cheapest source of animal proteins to human beings (Ahmad et al., 2011) [3]. However, it has been prone to threats including viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases involving GIT system of the birds (Hafez, 2011) [11]. Among these enteric parasitic diseases, coccidiosis is the main hindrance in the development of poultry sector around the globe. Epidemiological research had established the economical great importance of coccidiosis like a main parasitic infection of poultry in (Ayaz et al., 2003 [5], Ullah et al., 2014 [21] ). Different Eimeria species causing avian coccidiosis include E. mitis, E. brunette, E. tenella, E. acervulina, E. maxima and E. necatrix (Ayaz et al., 2003 [5], Shah et al., 2009 [20] ). For chemoprophylaxis of coccidiosis, anticoccidial drugs have been used as feed additives to overcome the disease, but complications have been started by emerging drug resistance and hazardous effects of such drugs on bird s health (Abbas et al., 2011) [1]. Page 41

2 Attenuated vaccines have also been developed although these are expensive to be produced. Alternative strategies being sought for safer and effective control of Eimeria are use of botanicals and herbals. These are natural products and consist of new therapeutic ingredients against which resistance has not accomplished yet (Abbas et al., 2012) [2]. This study mainly aimed to get information about the different epidemiological aspects of Eimeria species in Dera Ismail Khan which has been among the less privileged areas of. 2. Material and Methods 2.1 Study area The study has been designed to determine the prevalence of coccidiosis in broiler chickens in district Dera Ismail Khan,. The city has 175 meters of elevation from the sea. It is plain and arid area lying on the west bank of River Indus. The fecal were collected in the months from November 2015 to April Sample collection and size estimation Two stage cluster sampling was done taking union councils as primary units and poultry farms as secondary units. Sample size was estimated by formula as described by Thursfield, (2005) [22]. For this purpose, 48 union councils of district Dera Ismail Khan were screened. Both primary and secondary units were selected randomly by random number table. A total of 300 gut of broiler chickens were collected from different poultry farms in district Dera Ismail Khan. 2.3 Development of questionnaire A questionnaire was designed for collecting information regarding potential risk factors associated positively or negatively with prevalence of parasitism in poultry. Information regarding age, sex, area, season and management practices like watering methods, feeding methods, nature of litter, frequency of change of litter etc, was collected through predesigned questionnaire using close and open ended questions. Birds of age 3-4 weeks were ranked as young while birds of age 6 weeks and above were considered as adults. 2.4 Parasitological examination Freshly excreted fecal (n=300) were collected from different union councils of Dera Ismail Khan, from Nov 2015 to April 2016 and collected were brought to Veterinary Research Centre Dera Ismail Khan. All gut were examined and gut contents were collected in the beakers separately. Contents were macerated overnight in potassium dichromate solution at 37 C. The suspension was filtered through a muslin cloth and allowed to sediment. The supernatant was discarded and the oocysts in the sediment were separated by floatation method in saturated sodium chloride solution. The isolated oocysts were washed to remove salt solution and for the identification of different species they were subjected to micrometry for the measurement of their length (Levine, 1985) [16]. For this purpose, ocular micrometer was adjusted at 400X magnification. Fifty oocysts from each positive sample were measured for the identification of Eimeria species. The different Eimeria species were identified on the basis of shape and size of sporocysts and sporozoites according to the method described by Levine, (1985) [16]. The litter were also collected from the farms (n=100) to ascertain the source of infection. These were processed for isolates of Eimeria species by the method described by Levine (1985) [16]. 2.5 Data analysis The prevalence of coccidiosis among different seasons and age groups was calculated. Furthermore, the prevalence of different Eimeria species was also calculated. Data generated was analyzed using descriptive statistics with emphasis on percentage. 3. Results and Discussion Out of 300 gut examined, 44% guts were found infective (Table 1). The present study revealed moderately low prevalence rate of coccidiosis in broiler chickens in Dera Ismail Khan district as compared to the previous report (71.8%) on coccidiosis from Faisalabad district (Khan et al., 2006) [15]. This difference could be due the existence of more humid weather in district Faisalabad,. Because, it is well known fact that humidity plays a vital role for the sporulation of the coccidial oocysts (Haug et al., 2008 [13] ; Bachaya et al., 2012 [6].). In, mostly salinomycin sodium is used as anticoccidial drug for the control of avian coccidiosis and due to its frequent use for a long time resistance could have developed (Abbas et al., 2011 [1] ; Gyorke et al., 2013). The disease was observed in all 06 months (Table 1). Among different months, the maximum prevalence of coccidiosis was observed during the months of April (71.83%). This might be because of the high-level of moisture during this month of year. Figure 1 is showing the highest prevalence in April with higher relative humidity. Highest humidity in April helped sporulation of oocysts which ultimately resulted in peak prevalence during subsequent months i.e. November and October. Higher prevalence during month of April seems to be associated with higher relative humidity during this month. These results were in consonance with some of the previous reports (Khan Page 42

3 et al., 2006) [15] in which the maximum occurrence of coccidiosis was reported during these months due to high humidity. However, in contrast to the present study, (Awais et al., 2012) [4] recorded much higher prevalence of coccidiosis in autumn season in district Faisalabad,. Among different species of Eimeria, E. tenella showed the highest prevalence rate (40.9%), followed by E. maxima (31.4%), E. mitis (18.2%) and E. necatrix (9.5%) in broiler chickens. These findings were in line with previous studies (Ayaz et al., 2003 [5] ; Awais et al., 2012 [4] ), reporting the highest prevalence of E. tenella (50%) in broiler chickens of district Faisalabad,. Similarly, E. tenella has also been reported as the most prevalent species in Iran (Hamidinejat et al., 2010) [12]. The results obtained in the present study related to the 4 species of Eimeria correlated the findings of (Khan et al., 2006) [15] identifying that E. necatrix, E. maxima, E. tenella, and E. mitis from poultry litter, but Williams (1995) [23] reported the presence of 6 species of Eimeria (e.g., E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. tenella, E. brunette, E.mitis and E. praecox) in the litter from single flock through its first 6 weeks. It has already been reported that Eimeria species and their prevalence vary greatly within the different geographical areas (Chapman, 1997 [7] ; Györke et al., 2013 [10] ; Zhang et al., 2013 [24] ). The prevalence of coccidiosis infection among adult broiler chickens was lower compared to young broiler chickens (Table 2). These results were in agreement with the statement of (Muazu et al., 2008) [17] in which the prevalence of coccidiosis among adult birds was 36.7% and among young birds was 52.9%. The results obtained in the present study were also supported by (Julie., 1999) [14] all of that ages groups of poultry are at risk to infection, however, commonly solve of itself around days of age. The results obtained were in association with age, also supporting the findings of (Etuk et al., 2004) [9] that young birds are very much affected by infection compared to older birds. The overall results demonstrated that the prevalence of coccidiosis in broiler chickens was higher. The reason could be that the Eimeria oocysts are common and easily disseminated within the poultry farm environment. Moreover, because of their higher reproduction potential, it is very important to keep chickens coccidiosis free, especially under current intensive rearing conditions (Chapman, 2014) [8]. Furthermore, poor management similar to moist litter that helps oocyst sporulation, infected drinkers and feeders, poor ventilation and also higher stocking density could exacerbate the clinical signs (Ruff, 1993) [19]. However, good management practices including good ventilation, dry and clean litter, cleaning and decontamination of drinkers and feeders and proper stocking density in the farm can minimize the onset of coccidiosis (Abbas et al., 2011) [1]. The prevalence of coccidiosis was low on the poultry farms of progressive farmers in the study area because proper hygienic measures have been adapted between the flocks. This practice may also help to control the widely spread threat of coccidiosis. Other control measures such as attendants should change clothes between houses, preventing wild birds entrance in the farm premises and the rationale use of anticoccidial drugs is good way for the effective control of coccidiosis. Months Table 1: Different Eimeria species identified and their percentage intensity in broiler chickens No. of gut examined Total gut (No.) Total gut (%) E. maxima E. tenella E. mitis E. necatrix No. % No. % No. % No. % Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April Total Page 43

4 Table 2: Prevalence of coccidian infection in broiler chickens of different age groups No. of fecal Young Broiler Chicken Adult Broiler Chicken Samples Samples examined examined No. % examined No. % Young (3-4 weeks) and Adult (6 weeks and above) Fig 1: Association of meteorological factors with prevalence of coccidiosis in poultry of district Dera Ismail Khan 4. Conclusion The poor management at the poultry farm is the main contributory factor for the onset of coccidiosis, as oocyst sporulation occurs in humid environment. Therefore, good management practices are the handy tool to minimize the occurrence and spread of coccidiosis in climate change scenario. 5. References 1. Abbas RZ, Iqbal Z, Blake D, Khan MN, Saleemi MK. Anticoccidial drug resistance in fowl coccidia: The state of play revisited. World's Poult. Sci. J. 2011; 67: Abbas RZ, Colwell DD, Gilleard J. Botanicals: An alternative approach for the control of avian coccidiosis. World's Poult. Sci. Assoc. 2012; 68: Ahmad FM, Haq AU, Ashraf G, Abbas, Siddiqui MZ. Effect of different light intensities on the production performance of broiler chickens. Pak. Vet. J. 2011; 31: Awais MM, Akhtar M, Iqbal Z, Muhammad F, Anwar MI. Seasonal prevalence of coccidiosis in industrial broiler chickens in Faisalabad, Punjab,. Trop. Anim. Health Prod. 2012;44: Page 44

5 5. Ayaz MM, Akhtar M, Hayat CS, Hafeez MA, Haq AU. Prevalence of coccidiosis in broiler chickens in Faisalabad,. Pak. Vet. J. 2003; 23: Bachaya HA, Raza MA, Khan MN, Iqbal Z, Abbas RZ, Murtaza S, Badar N. Predominance and detection of different Eimeria species causing coccidiosis in layer chickens. J. Anim. Plant Sci. 2012; 22: Chapman HD. Biochemical, genetic and applied aspects of drug resistance in Eimeria parasites of the fowl. Avian Pathol. 1997; 26: Chapman HD. Milestones in avian coccidiosis research: A review. Poult. Sci. 2014; 93: Etuk EB, Okoli IC, Uko MU. Prevalence and management issues associated with poultry coccidiosis in Abak Agricultural zone of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Int. J. Poult. Sci. 2004; 3: Györke A, Pop L, Cozma V. Prevalence and distribution of Eimeria species in broiler chicken farms of different capacities. Parasite. 2013; 20: Hafez HM. Enteric diseases of poultry with special attention to Clostridium perfringens. Pak. Vet. J. 2011; 31: Hamidinejat H, Shapouri MRS, Mayahi M, Borujeni MP. Characterization of Eimeria species in commercial broilers by PCR based on ITS1 regions of rdna. Iran J. Parasitol. 2010; 5: Haug A, Gjevre AG, Thebo P, Mattsson JG, Kaldhusdal M. Coccidial infections in commercial broilers: epidemiological aspects and comparison of Eimeria species identification by morphometric and polymerase chain reaction techniques. Avian Pathol. 2008; 37: Julie DH. Coccidiosis in poultry. Livestock Poult. Prog. 1999; 2: Khan MQ, Irshad H, Anjum R, Jahangir M, Nasir U. Eimeriosis in poultry of Rawalpindi/Islamabad area. Pak. Vet. J. 2006; 26: Levine ND. Veterinary Protozoology. Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa, USA Muazu A, Masdooq AA, Ngbede J, Salihu AE, Haruna G, Habu AK, Sati MN, Jamilu H. Prevalence and identification of species of Eimeria causing coccidiosis in poultry within Vom, Plateau State, Nigeria. Int. J. Poult. Sci. 2008; 7: Mohsin AQ, Raazia R, Samia A, Mushtaq A. Profitability analysis of broiler production in Rawalpindi district. Pak. J. Agri. Sci. 2008; l: 45(4). 19. Ruff MD. External and internal factors affecting the severity of avian coccidiosis. In: Proc. 6th Int. Coccidiosis Conf. June ; 73-79pp. 20. Shah MAA, Song X, XU L, Yan R, Song H, Ruirui Z, Chengyu L, Li X. The DNAinduced protective immunity with chickens interferon gamma against poultry coccidiosis. Parasitol. Res. 2009; 107: Ullah MI, Akhtar M, Iqbal Z, Muhammad F. Immunotherapeutic activities of mushroom derived polysaccharides in chicken. Int. J. Agric. Biol. 2014; 16: Thursfield M. Survey in veterinary epidemiology. 2nd ed. Blackwell Science, Limited, Cambridge, UK, 2005; pp. 23. Williams RB. Epidemiological studies of coccidiosis in the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus). Physical condition and survival of Eimeria acervulina oocysts in poultry house litter. Appl. Parasitol. 1995; 36: Zhang Y, Jia Q, Zhang X, Li Y, Li P, Zhang W, Chen J, Zhu W. Screening of multiple drug resistant genes of Eimeria tenella infesting chicken in China. Pak. Vet. J. 2013; 33: Jamil M, Mansoor M, Khan MK, Amanullah, Khan A, Rizwan UH et.al. Prevalence of coccidiosis in broiler chickens in District Dera Ismail Khan,. Journal of Zoology Studies. 2016; 3(3): ***************************************************************** Page 45

Date Received: 09/05/2014; Date Revised: 20/05/2014; Date Published Online: 25/05/2014

RESEARCH A R T I C L E INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL Advancements in Life Sciences Date Received: 09/05/2014; Date Revised: 20/05/2014; Date Published Online: 25/05/2014 Seasonal prevalence of eimeriosis in broiler