Distribution of poultry ectoparasites in industrial farms, farms, and private plots with different rearing technologies

One of the problems in growing and keeping poultry, both in industrial and farm and kitchen garden environments is ectoparasites, which are responsible for lowering the productivity of poultry and causing economic losses. The study of the prevalence and diagnosis of bird ectoparasites on poultry farms with different maintenance technologies is important for the further development of integrated methods for combating them. Our research was conducted during 2006–2017 in 16 regions of Ukraine and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. In total, 38 poultry farms specializing in egg production with poultry kept in battery cages, 18 poultry houses specializing in egg production with poultry kept on the floor and more than 150 farm and kitchen garden poultry houses for keeping chickens, turkeys, quails, guinea fowl and pigeons were examined. We found that, both with battery cages and when poultry are kept on the floor in poultry farms, the most common ectoparasites are chicken mites (Dermanyssus gallinae), which causes the disease of dermanyssiosis. It was determined that the extensivity of the invasion was, on average, from 56% to 80%. Also, in the chickens and turkeys, mallophages (Menopon gallinae, Menacanthus stramineus), which cause mallophagoses, were detected, and the extensivity of the invasion ranged from 27% to 45%. In farms and kitchen gardens where chickens, guinea fowl and quails were kept, the number of chicken mites in 1 g substrate was more than a thousand live mites, in dovecotes chicken mites were found in 50% to 100% of nests. In chickens and turkeys, besides the chicken mite, bird lice were found. In chickens, extensivity of invasion of M. gallinae, M. stramineus, Lipeurus variabilis, ranged from 15% to 22%, in turkeys, extensivity of invasion of M. gallinae and M. stramineus ranged from 16% to 25%. The scaly leg mite (Knemidocoptes mutans), which causes the disease knemidocoptiasis ("lame leg"), was detected in incubating hens over the age of two years, the extensivity of the invasion ranged from 5% to 7%. It was established that in poultry farms, both in battery cages and when the birds were kept on the floor, the main ectoparasite in chickens, guinea fowl and quail is red chicken mite (D. gallinae), and on poultry farms and kitchen gardens in addition to the chicken mite, three types of bird lice (M. gallinae, M. stramineus, L. variabilis) and K. mutans were found

Contamination of animal-keeping premises with eggs of parasitic worms

Today, one of the important problems in the cultivation and maintenance of agricultural and domestic animals, both in industrial and private farms, is the spread of ecto- and endoparasites, which cause a significant decline in animal productivity, endanger their health and cause economic losses. The study of the level of distribution and conducting of diagnostic studies on parasitoses of animals in farms with different production orientation is an important and integral part of the overall complex of preventive and health-improving measures. The research was carried out during 2007–2017 in livestock enterprises of Kharkiv Oblast. As a part of the research work, 540 samples were collected from livestock farms, of which 180 were from the premises for keeping pigs, 100 from premises for keeping sheep, 120 from premises for keeping cattle, 80 from premises for dogs and 60 – from the surrounding territories of the livestock enterprises. We found that the objects of livestock rearing (pig complex, sheep farm, dairy farm, cynological center) in Kharkiv Oblast have a significant level of sanitary contamination with exogenous forms of helminths (21.7–45.6%) and the soil of the territories (20.0–36.6%). From samples taken from premises for pigs, eggs of four morphotypes were isolated (Ascaris suum – 5.3%, Trichuris suis – 14.6%, Oesophagostomum dentatum – 60.6%, Strongyloides ransomi – 19.4%), from premises for sheep – three morphotypes (Dicrocoelium lanceatum – 3.8%, Trichuris ovis – 29.3%, Strongylata spp. – 46.9%), from premises for cows – three morphotypes (Neoascaris vitulorum – 2.7%, Trichuris skrjabini – 12.9%, Strongylata spp. – 34.5%), premises for dogs – four morphotypes (Toxocara canis – 6.1%, Toxascaris leonina – 5.4%, Trichuris vulpis – 20.6%, Ancylostoma caninum – 17.5%). It should be noted that the places most contaminated with eggs of helminths were manure gutters (100%) and the floor of livestock buildings (50.0–86.7%). It has also been determined that, in the conditions of the cynological center, the Musca domestica was the source of environmental contamination with exogenous forms of Toxocara canis and Trichuris vulpis, and that the Muscina stabulans and Stomoxys calcitrans can be the source of spread of larvae of Ancylostoma caninum and eggs of Trichuris vulpis respectively