Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Nematodes and Coccidia in broiler chicken at Royal farm in Bombo, Luweero district

Abstract

A case study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes and coccidia in broiler chicken at Royal Farms in Bombo, Luweero. A total of 100 faecal samples were collected from the cloaca of birds of various age groups. The age groups sampled were three weeks, four weeks, five weeks and six weeks in different housing units. Faecal samples were scooped from the cloaca using a gloved hand and immediately put into faecal containers. The feacal containers were then put into cool box with ice for transportation to the Central Diagnostic Laboratory (CDL) for analysis using floatation method. The eggs and oocysts were quantified using Mc Master Technique.Of the 100 samples, the overall prevalence was 22(22%) for coccidia and 27(27%) for gastrointestinal nematodes. The three species of nematodes identified were Ascaridia galli (16%), Capillaria annulata (7%) and Strongyloides avium (4%). Broiler birds of four weeks, five weeks and six weeks had gastrointestinal nematodes but birds of five and six weeks had the highest mean numbers of eggs per gram of fecal sample. A significant difference (P<0.05) was found in the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes between different age groups of broiler birds. Birds of week six showed the highest degree of concentration of nematode eggs per gram and oocyst per gram of faecal sample. There was no significant mean difference in the degree of infection with coccidia between birds of third week and fourth week but there was a significant difference in degree of infection of birds of fifth week and sixth week (P= 0.00). The study therefore revealed occurrence of nematodes and coccidia among birds of four, five and six weeks of age with the intensity of infection increasing with age. Further research should be conducted in farms and surrounding areas of Bombo Sub County to identify the prevalence of other nematodes and protozoa as this will contribute to designing the appropriate preventive techniques and deworming of chicken should be carried out and targeting Ascaridia galli,Capillaria annulata and Strongyloides avium using appropriate dewormers.