Knowledge of poultry diseases, biosecurity and husbandry practices among stakeholders in poultry production in Kogi State, Nigeria

Commercial poultry production is low in Kogi State even before the advent of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI H5N1) outbreak in Nigeria. The low level of poultry production has persisted long after the socio -economic impacts of HPAI had improved. A study was conducted among 94 poultry stakeholders in the state with the use of questionnaire to assess their knowledge of poultry diseases, biosecurity and poultry husbandry practices in six Local Government Areas of Kogi State. The findings showed that 60.0% of poultry production was rural while the rest were backyard (semi commercial) poultry. About 64.7% of poultry kept were under extensive management with the commonest diseases seen under this management system being Newcastle disease (62.9%), Coccidiosis (52.3%), Fowl pox (46.9%), Gumboro disease (39.1%) and Fowl typhoid (36.1%). Biosecurity was poor as 92.9% of respondents did not have footbath or hand wash disinfection; 70% would throw away poultry litter in the refuse dump; 12% would use the poultry litter as manure while 11% would sell out the litter. In addition, 64.7% of the poultry farmers obtained their rearing stock from the live bird market and other unknown sources while only 35.3% obtained theirs from the hatchery. The findings of this study showed that the low level of commercial poultry production in Kogi State might be due to the impacts of diseases and poor husbandry practices undertaken by the farmers. It is recommended that government should train poultry farmers on biosecurity, disease prevention and the adoption of modern husbandry practices suitable for the traditional poultry production system

Risk factors for the occurrence and spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 in commercial poultry farms in Kano, Nigeria

Outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 occurred previously for three consecutive years, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in Kano State, Nigeria, causing heavy economic losses to farmers and the government. It was against this background that risk factors for the occurrence and spread of HPAI H5N1 among commercial poultry farms in the State were evaluated. A total of 64 farms comprising 32 affected (AF) and 32 non-affected (NAF) farms were enrolled for this study. Questionnaires were designed and administered to the selected farms through interviews with farm owners or farm managers during on-site visits. Information on flock profile including farm characteristics and environment, husbandry practices, biosecurity practices, farm trade practices and employee activities were obtained and analyzed. Pearson Chi square and Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare categorical variables. Values of p< 0.05 were considered significant. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to measure the strength and statistical significance of associations between the variables and occurrence and spread of HPAI H5N1 in commercial poultry farms in the State. The most significant risk factors were the presence of untreated surface water on farms (OR 18.6, 95%CI 2.24 – 154.34, p = 0.001), exchange of egg crates between traders and farmers (OR 12.1, 95%CI 1.43 – 102.61, p = 0.006), allowing egg crates of traders into poultry pens (OR 11.67, 95%CI 2.37 – 57.86, p = 0.001) and allowing rodents/wild birds access to poultry feed (OR 3.65, 95%CI 0.23 – 1.87, p = 0.024). It was recommended that veterinary inspection to enforce and encourage best biosecurity practices for the poultry farms should be introduced and sustained

Sero-Prevalence of Avian Influenza, Newcastle and Gumboro Disease in Chickens in Kogi State, Nigeria

A survey was carried out in chickens from backyard farms, rural flocks and live bird markets in six local government areas of Kogi state to study the epidemiology of three viral diseases of high economic importance in Nigeria. A total of 750 sera were collected and screened for evidence of antibodies to Avian Influenza, Newcastle and Gumboro disease viruses. An overall prevalence of 22.4% and specific prevalence of 26.0% were obtained for avian influenza in the live bird market chickens using the agar gel immunodiffusion test. Antibodies to Newcastle disease using haemagglutination inhibition test gave an overall prevalence of 25.6% with a mean titre of 1.39±0.088 and a unit specific prevalence of 36.7% (2.07±0.233) for rural chickens with 74.5% of the chickens surveyed having antibody titre <4 log2. Overall seroprevalence for Gumboro using agar gel immunodiffusion test was 16.3% with highest unit specific seroprevalence of 21.3% among chickens from live bird market. The study reveals that Avian Influenza, Newcastle and Gumboro disease viruses are circulating among chickens in Kogi state and the negative impacts of these diseases may explain the low level of commercial poultry production in the state

Evaluation of Some Fowl Pox, Gumboro and Newcastle Disease Vaccines Marketed in Nigeria

The quality of live commercial fowl pox (FP), Gumboro disease (GD) and Newcastle disease (ND) vaccines manufactured by four laboratories and on sale in Nigeria were tested. One of the nine vaccines yielded Aspergillus sp., two Salmonella sp. and three Escherichia coli when grown on culture media. All the four ND vaccines and one of the three FP vaccines tested contained the recommended virus titre. None of the two GD vaccines tested contained the recommended virus titre. Two of the three FP vaccines were able to protect 100% of vaccinated chicks challenged with a virulent FP virus. All chicks vaccinated orally (PO) or intramuscularly (IM) with Two of the three vaccines had pox lesions when challenged while only 17% of chicks had pox lesions following IM vaccination with one of the three FP vaccines. Two weeks post vaccination (PV) only 17% and 33% of the chicks vaccinated with two of the three GD vaccines had precipitin antibodies (PAb) in their sera while 100% of the chicks vaccinated with one of the three GD vaccines had PAb. All the three GD vaccines caused reduction in body weight gain and atrophy of the bursa of Fabricius when administered at one or 10 times the normal dose. The haemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody titre of ND vaccinated chicks was highest two weeks PV and in chicks vaccinated intraocularly with 10 times the normal dose. Only 50%, 56% and 78% of chicks vaccinated with three ND vaccines were protected when challenged with a local virulent ND virus. Live viral vaccines are therefore possible sources of bacterial and fungal infections for poultry in Nigeria. Some commercial vaccines contain low virus titres, are poorly immunogenic or pathogenic even at recommended dose therefore are unable to protect all vaccinated chicks when exposed to virulent viruses. The aforementioned factors are some of the likely causes of outbreaks of FP, GD and ND in vaccinated flocks in Nigeria. There is the need to routinely reassess the quality of all commercial poultry vaccines and maintain their quality by proper handling, transportation and storage. Vaccines should also to be properly administered by poultry farmers.Keywords: Safety, Poultry vaccines, Potency

A nine - year retrospective study of avian neoplastic diseases in Zaria, Kaduna state, Nigeria

Avian neoplastic diseases have been identified as one of the leading causes of mortality and production losses in commercial chickens in Nigeria. Although available reports described the trend of Marek’s disease in Zaria, Kaduna state, they did not take cognizance of other neoplastic diseases of poultry hence the need for this study. The clinic records of the Avian Clinic of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, were examined for cases of all avian neoplastic diseases from 2002 to 2010. The overall prevalence of avian neoplastic diseases was 7.58% (234/3085). Marek’s disease (MD) and avian leukosis (AL) were the only avian neoplastic diseases of poultry reported during the period under review. Marek’s disease contributed 85.90% (201/234) of the total avian neoplastic diseases outbreaks while AL was responsible for only 14.10% (33/234) of the outbreaks. The overall prevalence of MD was 6.25% (201/3085) while that of AL was 1.07% (33/3085). Chicken (99.57%) and duck (0.43%) were the only species of birds affected by the diseases. The types of chickens that were affected include commercial layers (97.85%), exotic broilers (0.86%), exotic cockerels (0.86%) and Nigerian indigenous chicken (0.43%). The average age of poultry affected was 20.17 (SD=±2.6) weeks for MD and 41.43 (SD=±15.4) weeks for AL. Weight loss (55.98%), ruffled feathers (47.01%), diarrhea (39.79%) and leg paralysis (17.52%) were the most reported clinical signs. The most consistent gross lesions observed were hepatomegaly (76.50%), emaciated carcass (75.64%), renomegaly (52.56%) and splenomegaly (44.87%). Neoplastic growths were mostly observed on the liver (46.58%), kidney (28.2%) and heart (25.21%). The sciatic nerve (20.51%) and bursa of Fabricius (3.85%) were also affected. There is a remarkable increase in the cases of avian neoplastic diseases over the study period which underscores the importance of a National control program for these important diseases of poultry.Keywords: Avian neoplastic diseases, Avian leukosis, Clinico-pathological changes, Marek’s disease, Prevalenc