Avian encephalomyelitis virus (AEV) is an important pathogen of poultry and is classified as a member of picornaviridae. Nearly all chicken flocks eventually become infected with the virus, but the incidence of clinical disease is very low unless a breeder flock is not vaccinated and becomes infected after the commencement of egg production. This report describes an outbreak of avian encephalom...

We investigated for dynamics of Campylobacter clones on 2 different managerial broiler farms. Campylobacter isolates were differentiated by resistance typing and molecular typing methods. On farm I, the same C. jejuni clones resistant to fluoroquinolone and oxytetracycline were isolated after one and half years again and another susceptible clone was invaded. The susceptible clone was isolated ...

Check out – Auburn University on the Web at http://www.poultryhouse.com Infectious disease is one of a number of factors that can affect performance in broiler flocks. Modern industry practices such as stringent hatchery sanitation programs, widespread vaccinations, use of feed additives and bio-security precautions have evolved to provide in most cases an effective shield against serious losse...

The presence of salmonellae in fertile broiler hatching eggs has been clearly identified as a critical control point in the salmonellae contamination of broiler chickens. This paper reviews the published research studies on a) the penetration and proliferation of salmonellae in hatching eggs, b) the consequences of this contamination on the contamination of the final product, and c) the egg's d...

Little is known about broiler chicken ranging behaviour. Previous studies have monitored ranging behaviour at flock level but whether individual ranging behaviour varies within a flock is unknown. Using Radio Frequency Identification technology, we tracked 1200 individual ROSS 308 broiler chickens across four mixed sex flocks in two seasons on one commercial farm. Ranging behaviour was tracked ...

The main aim of this study was to trace Campylobacter subtypes colonizing Italian broilers and carcasses in and between flocks. Overall, 209 Campylobacter isolates were collected from ceca (n = 94) and carcasses (n = 115) of broilers belonging to 3 different flocks reared in the same farm during subsequent rotations and processed in the same slaughterhouse. All isolates were identified by multi...

Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter-specific bacteriophage were enumerated from broiler chicken ceca selected from 90 United Kingdom flocks (n = 205). C. jejuni counts in the presence of bacteriophage (mean log(10) 5.1 CFU/g) were associated with a significant (P < 0.001) reduction compared to samples with Campylobacter alone (mean log(10) 6.9 CFU/g).

The possible sources of Campylobacter spp. in poultry meat before slaughter were studied by examining samples of feathers, cloaca swabs, litter swabs, transport coops, rinse water from coop washing equipment, and chicken breast supports in the slaughter line just before stunning. The samples were collected from 8 broiler houses and from 8 different producers, from a poultry integration system i...

Broiler flocks often become infected with Campylobacter and Salmonella, and the exact contamination routes are still not fully understood. Insects like darkling beetles and their larvae may play a role in transfer of the pathogens between consecutive cycles. In this study, several groups of beetles and their larvae were artificially contaminated with a mixture of Salmonella enterica serovar Par...

Enteric diseases cause substantial economic losses to the poultry industry. Astroviruses, rotaviruses, reoviruses, and adenovirus type 1 have been reported as a significant cause of intestinal symptoms in poultry. In the present study, intestinal samples from 70 commercial broiler chicken flocks were examined for the presence of astroviruses, rotavirus, and reovirus by reverse transcription-pol...