1.Prevalence of Ascaridia galli in white leghorn layers and Fayoumi-Rhode Island red crossbred flock at government poultry farm Dina, Punjab, Pakistan
Hafiz Allah Bachaya ; Muhammad Asif Raza ; Muhammad Ashraf Anjum ; Imran Ahmad Khan ; Abdul Aziz ; Zahid Manzoor ; Shaukat Hussain Munawar
Tropical Biomedicine 2015;32(1):11-16
Poultry farming not only provides high nutritious food but also creates employment
opportunity for rural masses. Documented evidences elaborates that helminth parasitism is
most deciduous problem of chickens especially in developing world. Ascaridia (A.) galli, a
nematode of small intestine, has been considered as the most common and important parasite
of chicken. The present study was carried out to investigate prevalence and severity of A.
galli in White Leghorn layers (housing type: battery cage and deep litter, 50 each) and
Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red crossbred (male and female: 50 each) flock rearing at Government
Poultry Farm, Dina, Punjab, Pakistan. Two hundred faecal samples were examined by using
standard parasitological and McMaster egg counting technique. The overall prevalence was
24.5% at farm, 13% in White leghorn layer (battery cage=2%, deep litter=24%) and 36% in
Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red (male=34%, female=38%). It was also observed that White leghorn
layer rearing in deep litter had more severe infection (EPG=1920) of A. galli compare with
battery cages birds (EPG=500). Parasite prevalence was significantly related with sex (P<0.05)
in Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red and male birds had less number of average parasites (0.34±0.47)
as compared to females (0.38±0.490). Additionally, female birds were under serious threat of
infection (EPG=2270) compared with its counterpart (EPG=1250). Given the high infection
rates, particular attention should be paid to management and provision of feed supplement to
White leghorn layer housing in deep litter and female bird of Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red
crossbred.