A Survey on prevalence of Helminth infection in Desi poultry birds from Marathwada region of Maharashtra (India)

Abstract

The present research work deals with the study of survey on the prevalence of helminth infection in desi poultry birds from different parts of Marathwada region, Maharashtra state India. The study was conducted from June 2011 to May 2012 from different sampling station and different season to estimate the prevalence of helminth infection. For this study 317desipoultry birds were randomly selected from different part of Marathwada region in different season. A Simple salt floatation method was employed for examination of helminth infection. After examined the intestine of the birds the overall prevalence found 239 (75.40%) during the study period. The percentage of prevalence of helminth infection related to season was highest during summer (83.96%), followed by rainy (77.66%) and lowest during winter (64.81%). The considerable difference was found in the prevalence of helminth infection in different season. The present study is concentrated only on the prevalence of cestode and nematode particularly Raillietina and Ascaridia species respectively. The average helminth infection of cestode parasite was 72 (22.71%) and nematode was 114 (35.96%) found in the desi poultry birds, while the rest 53 (16.71%) were mixed infestations. It was found that the prevalence percentage of cestode (Summer: 26.38%, Rainy: 22.32%, Winter: 19.42%), nematode (Summer: 39.63%, Rainy: 37.87%, Winter: 30.61%) and mixed infection (Summer: 17.91%, Rainy: 17.5%, Winter: 14.79%) was highest during summer followed by rainy and lowest during winter season. The major helminth infection of parasites includes Raillietina (21.01%) and Ascaridia spp. (32.78%). This study shows that helminth infection is found more in desi poultry birds in the study area. Therefore, improved poultry management practices for controlling these parasites and further studies on control strategies of helminth infection in desi poultry birds need to be advised for improved poultry meat production.