Gastrointestinal parasitic infection in diverse species of domestic birds of Manipur, India

Abstract

Domesticated birds (515) consisting of 185 broiler (Gallusgallusdomesticus), 130 layers (Gallus Sp), 75 free range local chicken (Gallusdomesticus), 40 house pigeon (Columbalivia), 70 ducks (Anasplatyrhynchos) and 15 turkeys (Melleagrisgallopavo) reared in valley districts of Manipur were investigated for intestinal protozoan and helminthic infections. Fresh faecal samples of these birds were examined microscopically by direct wet smear with 2.5 % potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7). Of these 412 (80 %) were found to be infected with different species of gastrointestinal parasites. The highest (90.8 %) prevalence of these parasitic infections was found in broiler followed by layer (78.5 %), duck (75.7 %), house pigeon (75 %), Turkey (66.7 %) and free range local chicken (65.3 %), etc. A total of 10 species of intestinal parasites were encountered. Among these, the protozoans Eimeria and Isospora were the most common (68.3 %) followed by mixed infection of protozoan and Helminths.