Prevalence of Poultry Coccidiosis and its Associated Risk Factors in and around Haramaya District, Ethiopia

Abstract

Aim To determine the prevalence of poultry coccidiosis and identify the risk factors associated with the occurrence of the disease. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted on poultry coccidiosis of local and Rhode Island Red, White Leghorns, Koekoek, and bovine brown exotic breeds from November 2017 to April 2018 in and around Haramaya district, Ethiopia. Fecal examination using flotation and McMaster counting techniques were used for qualitative and quantitative studies, respectively. The study also involved a questionnaire survey for the assessment of possible risk factors. Results From 450 chickens examined by floatation method to detect Eimeria oocysts the result revealed 122 (27.1%) of the chickens were found positive for coccidiosis. The prevalence of coccidiosis among different age groups shows (68/214=31.8%), (54/236=22.9%) of young and adults were positive respectively. The prevalence is found statistically significant with p<0.05 (p=0.034, χ2=4.493) between different age groups. Regarding the breed prevalence (61/333=18.3%), (61/117=52.1%) Chefe and Gebsima (barley plumage color); Horro, Jarso, and Keyi (red plumage color); Naked Neck and Netch (white plumage color); Tepi and Tikur (black plumage color). Local and exotic breeds were positive respectively and the difference is statistically significant p<0.05 (p=0.00, χ2=50.109) between breeds. The study indicated also (46/168=27.4%) male and (76/282=27%) female chickens were positive but the difference between sex groups is no statistically significant difference p>0.05. The prevalence of coccidiosis in chickens kept in different management systems showed that (62/305=20.3%), (60/145=41.4%) were positive from extensive and intensive systems respectively. The difference is a statistically significant p<0.05 (p=0.00, χ2=22.040) among managements. From all the infected chickens most of them (96.7%) were lightly infected (<10,000 oocysts). Conclusion Coccidiosis is a major problem in the farm with inadequate hygienic measures and factors such as age, breed, body conditions, and biosecurity which are the most common factors that contribute for the occurrence of coccidiosis. Therefore, appropriate control strategies should be designed considering important risk factors and focus should be given to biosecurity practices in the prevention and control of coccidiosis, and in addition, further studies are needed to be conducted to identify the prevalent Eimeria species for strategic control.