Clinico-epidemiological investigation on diseases of Sonali chicken in the northern part of Bangladesh

Abstract

Sonali chicken farming in the northern part of Bangladesh has been rapidly progressing. It meets the demands of the protein source of the people. One of the major problems in rearing Sonali chicken in this area is considered the occurrence of various diseases although there are no data. Therefore, the current research was designed to determine the prevalence of the diseases and their associated risk factors including the prescription of drugs against every diseased Sonali chicken case presented at Upazila Livestock Office and Veterinary Hospital, Ullahpara, Sirajgonj, Bangladesh for a period of 2 (two) months from February to April 2022. A total of 73 sick and dead Sonali chickens were examined for the diagnosis of different diseases based on history, clinical findings, and postmortem lesions of dead and sacrificed birds. This study revealed that most of the farmers were male (74.0%), middle-aged group (31 to 50 years) (49.3%), had poor education (34.3% secondary level), and were relatively new in farming (1-4 years) (72.6%). The flock size of most of the farms was medium (52.1%). Classic Sonali chicken dominated in the farms (60.3 %). Most of the farmers (91.8%) vaccinated their Sonali chickens. Results also demonstrated that the prevalence of viral diseases was the highest (39.3%) in Sonali chicken followed by protozoal (31.0%), and bacterial diseases (20.2%). Among the viral diseases, Newcastle Disease (14.3%), Infectious Bursal Disease (13.1%), and Low pathogenic Avian Influenza (4.8%) were more predominant. Coccidiosis (31.0%) was the highly prevalent disease among the protozoan diseases recorded in the Sonali birds. Bacterial diseases such as Colibacillosis (11.9%), and Necrotic enteritis (4.8%) were the most commonly occurring diseases observed in studied birds. However, Mycoplasmosis (3.6%), Brooder pneumonia (2.4%), and Ascariasis (2.4%) had also been found in Sonali chicken. The odds of coccidiosis positive were significantly higher in farms with flock size of 501 to 5100 than in farms with flock size with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.92 (95% CI: 1.0-8.7) (p=0.05) in Sonali chicken farm. Phytochemical/, herbal (Jingan®), levofloxacin, and immune stimulants were used as the main drugs, antibiotics, and supportive drugs for common viral diseases (ND and IBD). Amprolium with sulfa drugs and zinc or vitamin k was commonly used against coccoidal cases. Sulfa-quinoxaline (27.4%), Enrofloxacin (16.4%), Levofloxacin (13.7%), and Colistin (6.9%) were commonly prescribed Page | 2 antibiotics for different Sonali chicken cases. Ciprofloxacin and gentamicin were included in the category of critically important for veterinary and human use. Proper farm management and good quality chicks should be taken into consideration for effective control of coccidiosis. More judicious consideration should be given to the use of critically important antibiotics first to curb the growing multi-drug resistance pattern in bacteria